This study examines how drug use is situated within relationships between sex market facilitators and individuals who sell sex. Based on interviews with 61 facilitators in New York City and Chicago, we analyze how drugs function within interpersonal dynamics rather than as isolated tools of coercion or individual risk. Using coded interview data and multidimensional scaling, we identify three relational configurations: intimate, controlling, and depersonalizing. In intimate arrangements, drug use reinforces relational ties within shared networks. In controlling arrangements, facilitators create reliance and shape compliance. In depersonalizing arrangements, drugs regulate performance and maximize productivity. These findings suggest that drug use operates as a relational mechanism that varies across interpersonal contexts, organizing power and dependency within relationships.
Horning et al. (Thu,) studied this question.