The situation with the number has a simple solution: stop counting. Do you have a spreadsheet where you enter your encounters with hookers? If so, is it in Excel or Google Drive? Do you have charts of your activity? Forecasts, maybe?

Stop maintaining the spreadsheet. Do not be fixated on the number. Rename the file adding the word DEPRECATED.

If going to bars has not yielded results, expand by diversifying your portfolio. Add online dating and maybe some volunteering that would enable you to mix with girls. I am not in the know so ask those who are to recommend you the kind of volunteering that would give you the most exposure.

You seem to believe that toughing it out would somehow increase your chances of meeting a girl who is not a sex professional. What drives this belief?? I would work on the hypothesis that there is no correlation, until proven otherwise.

So if sex is safe both in terms of condom use and legal consequences, and within your budget, then go. Especially since according to the OP, you get value for your money - you get a skills training bonus. Go, but do not think about it too much - focus on trying to be involved in activities that lead to transactions not mediated by money.

If you have money to pay for high quality prostitues, you are probably gainfully employed. If so, and if you can carry out work and other activities of daily living, then your functioning is not impaired, so you do not have an addiction. Stop worrying about that part.

Above all, relax and do also focus on getting pleasure from living in non-sexual ways. What do you like to do for fun and pleasure outside of sex? Can you list 3-5 things you enjoy doing?