Volume 5, 2023

IJCAM

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Human trafficking, cults, & coercion: The use of drugs as a tool

United States
  • Staying safe: Observing warning signs of a dangerous liaison. Boyle-Laisure, R., & Laisure, A. (2017). ICSA Today.
  • Employing trafficking laws to capture elusive leaders of destructive cults. Boyle-Laisure, R. (2016). Oregon Review of International Law, 18, 147–178.
  • Current status of federal law concerning violent crimes against women and children: Implications for cult victims. Boyle-Laisure, R. (2002). Cultic Studies Review, 1(3), 281–302.
  • How children in cults may use emancipation laws to free themselves. Boyle-Laisure, R. (1999). Cultic Studies Journal, 16(1), 45–63.
  • Women, the law, and cults: Three avenues of legal recourse—New rape laws, Violence Against Women Act, and anti-stalking laws. Boyle-Laisure, R. (1998). Cultic Studies Journal, 15(2), 133–150.
Published Date
March 26, 2023
Issue
DOI
10.54208/1000/0005/002

Abstract

Thanks to the successful prosecution of sex traffickers, the definition and proof of “coercion” now encompasses evidence showing the use of addictive drugs as a tool. This article describes two case examples, and in both, the perpetrators supplied abundant amounts of addictive substantives. Once those victims became addicted and feared the pain of withdrawal, the sex traffickers forced the victims to perform commercial sex acts to pay off the drug debt they incurred, feeding the addiction the traffickers caused. Coercion by way of intentional drug addiction and control is a theory that expands the operative word “coercion.” This short article summarizes key points of my presentation at the Annual International Conference for the International Cultic Studies Association held in June 2022.

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