The Pros And Cons Of Prohibition

Alcohol and the many uses of it have evolved throughout history. Since the beginning of time alcohol has impacted all different types of cultures and has shown the world how ambiguous a substance can be. In 1920 the 18th Amendment banning the sale, manufacture, and transport of alcohol was passed. This was called Prohibition. Prohibition was supposed to decrease crime, death rate due to alcohol abuse, and the overall consumption of alcohol. Prohibition was a failure because it did the opposite of everything is was supposed to prevent. Prohibition’s first problem was that it didn't ban the overall consumption of alcohol. This caused for organized crime, corrupted those who enforced the law, and increased the abuse of alcohol. In order for a law to be effective people have to accept it, but how can a law be accepted when the main reason for the law isn't illegal? All these people with the ability to drink, but nothing and nowhere to drink. Bootleggers, factory owners, factory workers, gangsters, policemen, businessmen, store owners, and anyone who wanted to make an extra buck saw the ban on alcohol as an opportunity. There was a high demand for alcohol and there were soon many ways to obtain it. Speakeasies illegally sold alcohol to people willing to pay. Since there was such a high demand for alcohol
Since the transport, sale, and manufacturing of alcohol was illegal people would do anything and everything to get their hands on it. Organized crime was at an all time high. Bootleggers who were people that smuggled alcohol into the country would pay off law enforcement in order to continue to break the law. Gangs gained control over these illegal operations and became an unstoppable force against prohibition. Gangsters such as Al Capone monopolized the alcohol industry by bribing police. The corruption within law enforcement and the government certainly didn't help the ban against