I came across an online book chapter explaining why prohibition didn’t work in the US during the Roaring 20s and felt that I definitely need to share it with you. Although in retrospect we all know that prohibition absolutely didn’t work, we somehow have accepted the “Drug War” and prohibition on marijuana which is putting non-violent offenders in prison (as opposed to many of the violent legal drinkers…go figure). If you haven’t thought about that before, I hope this spurs you to do so.

Alcohol prohibition was not repealed because people decided that alcohol was a harmless drug. On the contrary, the United States learned during Prohibition, even more than in prior decades, the true horrors of the drug. What brought about Repeal was the slowly dawning awareness that alcohol prohibition wasn’t working.

Alcohol remained available during Prohibition. People still got drunk, still became alcoholics, still suffered delirium tremens. Drunken drivers remained a frequent menace on the highways. Drunks continued to commit suicide, to kill others, and to be killed by others. They continued to beat their own children, sometimes fatally. The courts, jails, hospitals, and mental hospitals were still filled with drunks, In some respects and in some parts of the country, perhaps, the situation was a little better during Prohibition-but in other respects it was unquestionably worse.

Oh, the woes of alcohol, and the ways in which prohibition solved them…

Licit and Illicit Drugs; The Consumers Union Report on Narcotics, Stimulants, Depressants, Inhalants, Hallucinogens, and Marijuana - Including Caffeine