Prohibition Positive Effects

Prohibition was a time of great change in America. In 1920, the 18th Amendment to the U.S Constitution was ratified, and a new and popular would be spread throughout the nation. This was Prohibition. Prohibition banned the manufacture, production, and sale of alcohol across all U.S states. This was a huge change in many ways from socially to economically, and it came with many side effects as well. Although the ratification of this new Prohibition law had some positive effects, overall the negatives outweigh the positives and ultimately lead to the repeal of Prohibition with the installment of the 21st Amendment.
If one thought of the possible outcomes of banning alcohol, they would be able to pick out several positive effects that could occur from such a ban. This was the case once the law was passed. Overall, there was a lower
amount of violence and public shamefulness due to the banning of the substance. For example, domestic violence decreased 82% and assault crimes decreased 53.1%. In addition to a general decrease in alcohol related violence, public health became better as well. Deaths related to cirrhosis, which is a liver related to disease in which the liver is harmed from alcohol usage, drop a staggering 50% then before the enactment of Prohibition (Prohibitionists.org). These statistics show that without alcohol, people would not get drunk and perform mindless acts such as fighting or wife-beating. In addition, public health increased (alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org). These can all be seen as general positive effects of Prohibition.
As one looks at Prohibition, they will also find many negatives that came along with the new law, and to a certain point the negatives outnumbered the positives.
Prohibition had a large economic effect. Millions of dollars generated from alcoholic sales every year were lost. In addition, millions more were spent on enforcing these new laws and trying to track down and destroy every trace of American alcohol. The decline of established liquor manufactures led to the rise of private manufacturers. These private manufactures made their own type of alcohol called moonshine, unfortunately many times it was improperly made and about 10,00 deaths would occur each year from the tainted alcohol. In the cities, corruption forced. Many night clubs would secretly and illegally sell liquor to make huge profits. Bootleggin, or alcohol smuggling, ran rampant and caused large problem with gang related violence due to the smuggling. In Chicago, Al Capone made about 60 million dollars in profits every single year from bootlegging (History.com). Overall, Prohibition put a great strain the the economy and people of American with numerous large negative
effects.
Overall, after one analyzes the positive and negative outcome of Prohibition, it can be determined that it was a negative enactment for the nations Constitution. Although it helped reduce some crimes such as domestic violence, it was counterbalanced by the fact that corruption and the illegal bootlegging caused many new reasons for violence that did not exist when alcohol was a legal substance. As for health issues, some alcohol related health problems such as cirrhosis decreased, yet many more people died from drinking moonshine which poisoned them. Without Prohibition, these deaths would not have ever occured. One can ultimately view Prohibition as negative, due to the the fact the evey positive outcome of Prohibition was equally matched and mostly overcome by a larger negative effect.
Throughout history, choices are sometimes made that can be always regretted.This is the case with American Prohibition. It was a great idea that was intended to erase sin from American society, but overall it was just an economic and social fail. It can be concluded that in the future, a society must look at a large decision collectively and consider all possible outcome before making a huge decision they will regret and eventually change.