The conventional wisdom is that Prohibition was a failure. In that it corrupted hundreds if not thousands of officials to take bribes and look the other way, it exposed a systemic failure of basic morality. It also robbed government of tax revenues from alcohol sales.
But we overlook the health benefits:
Now I am not a prohibitionist, but a wineglass filled with tart cherry juice or (non-alcoholic) apple cider or even buttermilk certainly passes muster as an evening drink rather than paying for an alcoholic beverage!
But we overlook the health benefits:
and there is this:Quote:
The lesson drawn by commentators is that it is fruitless to allow moralists to use criminal law to control intoxicating substances. Many now say it is equally unwise to rely on the law to solve the nation's drug problem.
But the conventional view of Prohibition is not supported by the facts.
First, the regime created in 1919 by the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act, which charged the Treasury Department with enforcement of the new restrictions, was far from all-embracing. The amendment prohibited the commercial manufacture and distribution of alcoholic beverages; it did not prohibit use, nor production for one's own consumption. Moreover, the provisions did not take effect until a year after passage -plenty of time for people to stockpile supplies.
Second, alcohol consumption declined dramatically during Prohibition. Cirrhosis death rates for men were 29.5 per 100,000 in 1911 and 10.7 in 1929. Admissions to state mental hospitals for alcoholic psychosis declined from 10.1 per 100,000 in 1919 to 4.7 in 1928.
https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/16/opinion/actually-prohibition-was-a-success.htmlQuote:
Arrests for public drunkennness and disorderly conduct declined 50 percent between 1916 and 1922. For the population as a whole, the best estimates are that consumption of alcohol declined by 30 percent to 50 percent.
Third, violent crime did not increase dramatically during Prohibition. Homicide rates rose dramatically from 1900 to 1910 but remained roughly constant during Prohibition's 14 year rule. Organized crime may have become more visible and lurid during Prohibition, but it existed before and after.
Fourth, following the repeal of Prohibition, alcohol consumption increased. Today, alcohol is estimated to be the cause of more than 23,000 motor vehicle deaths and is implicated in more than half of the nation's 20,000 homicides. (1989 article-my comment)
Now I am not a prohibitionist, but a wineglass filled with tart cherry juice or (non-alcoholic) apple cider or even buttermilk certainly passes muster as an evening drink rather than paying for an alcoholic beverage!
