Indepth, semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with the women to determine their experiences in using cocaine and their perceptions of its effect on their sex work. Twenty-three of the 29 women had used cocaine, and 15 of the 29 had used crack cocaine. In practice, however, freebase rather than "crack" was being self-manufactured from powder cocaine. Participants perceived that cocaine use in Glasgow was not restricted to prostitutes but was common in the city's drug scene generally. One reason given by the women for the general prevalence of cocaine use was a perceived reduction in heroin availability while cocaine was increasingly accessible. There was no evidence that the women were first introduced to cocaine through prostitution. Most of the women did not believe that using cocaine influenced their sex work; however, they perceived that other prostitutes were prepared to take more risks in their sex work in order to support their cocaine use, as well as work longer hours. Only participants recruited from the east end of the city mentioned their desperation for money and the sexual risks they were willing to take in order to fund their cocaine use. The authors recommend that harm-reduction programs address the sexual and personal risks that some female prostitutes may be taking in order to support their cocaine use. Treatment and support services should be tailored to changing drug trends among female drug users, including those involved in prostitution. 1 table and 21 references