IB Times – For the first time, Britain will consider illegal enterprises, including drugs and prostitution, in its economic measurements, the Office of National Statistics announced Friday. The statistics office estimates that paying for illegal drugs and sex adds about £10 billion, or $16.7 billion, a year to the UK economy. That’s about 0.7 percent of Britain’s GDP. Officials say approximately £5.3 billion is attributed to prostitution and £4.4 billion pertains to the import, manufacture and consumption of illegal drugs like heroin and crack cocaine. Because some of these activities, such as prostitution, are legal in other European Union member…

Like infinite numbers of women before her, Heather Robbins didn’t dream of Nevada brothels. She came to Las Vegas with a bit of luggage and a big dream: to someday become a showgirl; or at the very least, to dance in a strip club and maybe work her way up by catching the attention of somebody influential. Like the thousands before her, the 22-year-old arrived by bus, fleeing a dysfunctional relationship, a negligent family, and desperate poverty in inner-city Indianapolis. Within the first week here, she managed some job interviews but never a job. By week two, she was ripping…