Sunday, November 1, 2009

Opiates, Cocaine, and Sexual Slavery


Sexual slavery has existed for ages.  It's not a new problem, but it is an increasing problem.  In this article entitled Global Shame: Sex Slavery In The Liberal Age on IslamOnline.net it states:

"There is hardly any region in the world that escapes the activities of sex slavery syndicates. Trafficking in women is reported in Africa, Europe, North America, South Asia, and East and Southeast Asia.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), a European Union agency, estimates that some 500,000 women were trafficked to Europe in 1995. A large number of the women and girls involved came from the impoverished East European countries of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus."

The problem is not limited to women,


It's not just increasing in other countries,

Sex Slavery is Big Business in Europe:


but it's also increasing right here in the dear old U.S. of A.

Sexual slavery has been on the increase since Al Gore invented the internet (*smirk*).  According to this article:

"Prior to the internet, human traffickers had to travel within the United States or abroad to secure purchasing of females for sex slavery. However, with the growth of the internet, human trafficking is now being conducted via telephone and satellite transmissions. (AFA Journal, 2004). Human trafficking is now possible by viewing images of potential girls, bidding on the internet and paying for via the internet. With the decrease in travel and being anonymous on the internet, it is now possible for more human trafficking transaction to occur for purchasing internet sex slaves.

Even though prostitution and sexual exploitation of persons is illegal in the United States, the penalties are minimal for human traffickers. The majority of crimes for sexual exploitation are not felony sentences and carry significantly low criminal and court fees in comparison to the profits being obtained from this industry. Stiffer penalties could decrease the number of people in the internet slave industry over an extended period of time."



Cops: Jersey Pimp King Had Throne in Living Room, Women as Sex Slaves


There has been a lot of police effort recently to try to clean up the sex slave trade in Houston, but it still exists.  See these articles, for instance:

Houston's Sex Slave Bars Still Serving


Sexual Slavery Still Major Problem Due to Sex Slave Ring


In one case, an ex-policeman was involved:

Sex Slave Ring Busted in Houston, Ex-Police Officer and 5 Others Charged

It's also increasing in Israel:

Sex slavery and Israel’s failure to fight the growing trade

The criminals will use any means at their disposal including offering women fortune and fame, kidnapping them and injecting them with drugs, locking them in closets, beating them, and repeatedly raping them, making threats against their families and loved ones, or any number of things that their sick, twisted, greedy minds can imagine.

As stated in the article in the link above the preceding paragraph:

"Most of these sex slaves are kept by their masters until their commercial value deteriorates as a result of their deteriorating health conditions with the advancement of the many sexual diseases they are exposed to, including HIV and AIDS. Sadly, the end of their conditions of slavery does not signal the end of their miseries, but the beginning of a life of poverty, illness, and shame."

Human trafficking is a huge problem.  According to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, between 600,000 and 800,000 are trafficked internationally, with as many as 17,500 people trafficked into the United States.

Reward Processing by the Opioid System in the Brain

Julie Le Merrer, Jérôme A. J. Becker, Katia Befort and Brigitte L. Kieffer

Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Département Neurobiologie et Génétique; Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U964; and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR7104, Illkirch; and Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

The opioid system consists of three receptors, mu, delta, and kappa, which are activated by endogenous opioid peptides processed from three protein precursors, proopiomelanocortin, proenkephalin, and prodynorphin. Opioid receptors are recruited in response to natural rewarding stimuli and drugs of abuse, and both endogenous opioids and their receptors are modified as addiction develops. Mechanisms whereby aberrant activation and modifications of the opioid system contribute to drug craving and relapse remain to be clarified. This review summarizes our present knowledge on brain sites where the endogenous opioid system controls hedonic responses and is modified in response to drugs of abuse in the rodent brain. We review 1) the latest data on the anatomy of the opioid system, 2) the consequences of local intracerebral pharmacological manipulation of the opioid system on reinforced behaviors, 3) the consequences of gene knockout on reinforced behaviors and drug dependence, and 4) the consequences of chronic exposure to drugs of abuse on expression levels of opioid system genes. Future studies will establish key molecular actors of the system and neural sites where opioid peptides and receptors contribute to the onset of addictive disorders. Combined with data from human and nonhuman primate (not reviewed here), research in this extremely active field has implications both for our understanding of the biology of addiction and for therapeutic interventions to treat the disorder.

 Since opiates control the endogenous opioid system controls hedonic responses, this is why so many sex slavers use them to addict their prey.  Drugs such as morphine and heroin have long been used.  Cocaine and crack have also been used increasingly.  Alcohol has been used as well.

Once you recover someone from the sex trade, the job isn't over.  You have to consider the amount of time it takes to overcome severe addiction. Not eveyrone can afford to spend six months to a year in a psych ward to overcome their addictions.  It may be necessary in some cases where the patients can't bring themselves to change their group of friends or their lifestyle.  I can see how spending six months to a year might be long enough for addict friends to go off and find someone else with which to associate or the slave traders to forget as they go on to capture new victims.

Losing their "friends" makes it emotionally difficult for those who want to get free of their addictions to drugs and sex.  In dealing with some of the victims, I heard of some of them complain about how all their friends abandoned them by the time they got out.

It seems that in a lot of cases, what binds the people together in such "friendships" is the use of the substance itself. Other than that, they often don't really have much in common. That's the reason their "friends" so easily abandon them, especially if they're wanting to continue using.

If you think sex slavery is glamorous and thrilling, you might want to listen to this young woman, 18, who was kidnapped, drugged, gang-raped and savagely beaten:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27098382#27098382

It's not just males seeking out victims.  The slave traders sometimes entice some of their victims, yes, even females, to act as lures to draw more into the trade.

This online book by David A.J. Richards points out some of the complexities of the laws around the sex and drug trade.  Clearly, though, the laws against the slave traders are not nearly severe enough.  In Australia, elements of the Australian sex industry opposed the federal government's slavery legislation which they claimed was part of a moral agenda. The legislation, which would create a maximum 25-year jail sentence.  At least in Texas the defendants, as in this case, face the possibility of the maximum sentence of life in prison.

Twenty five years should be a minimum rather than a maximum when you consider what they do to their victims' lives.  Can you imagine having to go through life with the shame of having been a sex slave or having to deal with the effects of sexually transmitted diseases?  In the case of HIV and AIDS, it's a life sentence for their victims.  Why shouldn't they receive the same?

Cal Jennings


Copyright © 2009 Cal Jennings

Friday, September 11, 2009

In the Autumn of My Life

This week's phrase/word:
autumn

The Rules:

Post a poem, story or photo that has been created by you using the phrase above as the theme (or inspiration).

Leave your link in the comment section below.

Please make sure your post is open to everyone so that we may all enjoy your creation.

Have fun and please visit the other entries as soon as you can!

In The Autumn Of My Life

In the Autumn of my life
She came to me
Like a bolt of lightning
Saturating my being
Touching my heart, body, and soul from afar
My Autumn turned to Spring
Music filled my spirit
A proposal was made and accepted
In the midst of grueling circumstances
My life was better than I ever thought possible
Then she betrayed me
Burning me like the scorching Summer sun
Sweat of tears filled my eyes and heart
She returned, abused and broken
My love had not diminished
I accepted her with open arms
Tried to help her recover
Her troubled mind couldn't understand the truth
Almost trusting, she suddenly turned away
Lying and leaving again
The chill of the wind turned my life to Autumn
Then came the news of the illness
One from which few recover
She informed me, made empty promises, and departed
The freezing wind chilled me to the bone
My life became Winter
In the Autumn of my life



Click here for more Creative Challenges



Copyright © 2009 Cal Jennings






Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Well, Jill

You dung eating, lying slut. David told me you're just fine. I hope you burn in the hottest part of hell!!!!!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

David & Erik

Dear Jill,

David and Erik came by my page a couple days ago. I looked at their pages then blocked them. I thought perhaps you should know.

Oh, BTW. Happy Valentine's Day.

Cal

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Well, Jill...

Was it you, "Randy," or David, who came by my page, who installed the rootkit and the viruses, worms, and trojans? They may not tell me who it is right now, but they're watching. Probably just as well that they don't.

To Jill

We're going to have a lot to work out in the next life because I've almost come to hate you in this one.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Yes, I felt you

Yes, Jill, I felt you. I get the point. You are the lover of my soul. I was able to keep you out of my heart for a whole day. Today, I couldn't hold up the wall any longer. Ok, so I love you heart and soul. What good does that do me if you won't even see me, or even communicate with me for goodness sake? It drives me mad sometimes.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Tsk, tsk, Jill

Are you having Bill transmit your story to me now? Pity you still haven't grown enough backbone to stand up and say it yourself. You had all of me. That wasn't good enough for you. Now you don't deserve me.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Goodness, Jill

At a time in my life when I should be the happiest, I can't quit thinking of you. Feeling you all the time like this makes it difficult to keep my mind where it should be. Wondering how you are and where you may be weighs on me heavily. Even though hating you would be much easier, I can't. My love for you runs too deep. It's like scalding lava running through my veins. Why do you have to be so unforgettable?

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

For Jill

It seems there's been another tragedy. The two yound ladies who had made me so happy on New Years were in a bad accident:

From Jessie's Uncle:

i have been in contact with Jessie's landlord and they have told me Jessie and Stacy was in a very serious car accident with a drunk driver , they were at a stoplight and the other driver came through the light and hit them hit on, Jessie is in ICU and Stacy did not survive. im extremely sorry to have to bring this news to you
E holmes road January 10th 2009.
she has a lot of internal injuries as well as others
she was on her way to go get a gf of theirs that had been arguin with her bf , trinitie sent Jess a msg telling her that her and her bf was into it and would she come and get her so trinitie could stay with them awhile at least the night

yes they told me she has injuries to her legs ,pelvic area, her arms , something bout her eyes or eye, and during the impact they say something was lodged into her head on the left side , i dont know what it could be exactly it worries me
if it has jus been told and not true , then it makes me suspect trinities bf cause she called Jess to come and get her so she could stay with Jess and Stac awhile , said trinitie and her bf had been arguing
something is wrong cause they havent contacted us and Jess dont go a day without leavin some message to let me know shes ok , if she can help it

We tried to contact the hospital, but we can't find out if Jessie was there and passed away until business hours today. It's 3am now and we can't find out until 8am.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Hello Jill

I'm not sure what's wrong with you, but I feel you very strongly. I wish you would communicate with me and at least let me know how you're doing. I never thought you a cruel person, but cutting off all contact and not even sending word by someone about how you are doing, especially at the time of year it was and knowing what occurred in my life around those dates, was the most cruel thing that anyone has ever done to me in my life. You know how strongly both your feelings and your pain affect me. Do you really feel this type of behavior is fair?

I hope your second surgery went well and I hope you get over it and are able to continue your life in a somewhat normal manner. I know the difficulties you are facing, having lived through them up close and personal, and I do care about you and how you are doing. I would like to say that I don't love you anymore, but that would be a lie. I am always going to love you, no matter what occurs in your life or mine. You will always be a part of me and I will always be a part of you, whether or not we ever see each other or even speak to one another again. No amount of lying to ourselves will change that. Even with the happiness that two young, sweet ladies have brought into my life, you are ever-present. You don't have to worry about me ever forgetting you. Please have faith and get better.

Love,

Cal