“Yes, I do it (substance use) to alleviate the monotony.”

“Yes, (I use substances) to cope with customers and the elements/weather.”

“I used alcohol, cocaine and pot while working. They kept me going, calm, etc. I can say they didn’t interfere with my ability to make safe choices. They did cause me depression and self esteem issues.”

“It takes my sex drive down.”

“It makes me hornier.”

“It makes me feel better.”

“First and foremost I would suggest avoiding hard drugs and excessive alcohol consumption as coping mechanisms at work. Not only is substance abuse detrimental to your physical health (and accelerates ageing); in the end it will only amplify the negative aspects of the job, and possibly lead to serious addiction issues. As a general rule, if you can’t strip and be sober, stripping probably isn’t the best line of work for you to be in. In terms of maintaining mental health, I think it helps to engage in activities unrelated to stripping outside of work. Strip bars can be loud, intense, and draining places, and I think it’s good from time to time for dancers (and other bar staff for that matter) to shift their focus elsewhere.”

“Yes, often wouldn’t sleep for days on end. Would hallucinate, be short tempered with others, wouldn’t eat or drink water, just alcohol. My stage show at first was wonderful, I was requested at all the bars, ending up having a bar wait list and booked for months on end. I received 3 raises and was featuring. After a few months of this though, my overworking, the pressure on me to perform, I started using to extreme measures, not sleeping, and then not showing up for work. I started hallucinating on stage, getting sent home by my manager to sleep. Then I started to loose my bookings etc.”

“Sober is my coping mechanism.”