Why Prohibition Failed to Control American Alcohol Consumption

A single sketchy light flickers in a dark room. The smell of pure, hard liquor (most likely moonshine), permeates the air. Screams, laughter, shattering glass, and the freshly-made whiskey are shared by all in the dingy lair--until a stern knock cuts through the noise, silencing and destroying the night. It was this scenario and countless others like it that defined American Prohibition, also known as “The Noble Experiment”, a ban on any intoxicating beverage from 1920 to 1933. Reasons Prohibition was enacted was to correct corruption and reduce prison numbers, solve social unrest, lower taxes, and improve hygiene and health of the people. However, Prohibition ultimately failed in its attempt to control the behavior and vices of its citizens.

One particular issue that arose from Prohibition was that it fostered corruption; poor, young immigrants gradually morphed into mobs and general crime became organized. Extensive crime syndicates solidified and what is now colloquially known as the “Mafia” formed. The public had nowhere else to turn but these bootleg distilleries (dubbed “speakeasies”), because the method of getting in was a password--and by the end of Prohibition, over one million gallons of liquor had been bootlegged and brought into the United States alone. Not only had organized crime increased, but most crimes in general did, too. In addition to distilling alcohol illegally, police budgets in the period of Prohibition had increased by 11.4 million dollars (adjusted for today’s inflation, more than 140.5 million dollars). Total federal expenditures on penal institutions increased by a whopping 1000%. Homicides, civil unrest, the prison population, and Prohibition violations had actually increased during Prohibition. The demand for alcohol and the elimination of the public’s legal supply ultimately played a large part in the spike in crime during this era.

Besides the fact that crime multiplied uncontrollably, Prohibition was also practically unenforceable. Interestingly enough, the act of drinking in itself was not banned, rather, only sale and distribution. Bootleggers outnumbered police officers and enforcement became laughably lax in some areas of the United States. The 21 Club, a popular speakeasy in New York City, had been raided many times by police, but the owners were never caught. Many American immigrants viewed liquor not as a vice but as an integral cultural component. Smuggling and bootlegging were in full swing, and by 1927 the number of speakeasies was twice the number of legal bars pre-Prohibition. The Volstead Act itself (the enabling legislation for Prohibition) allowed the sale and production of wine at home and for religious purposes, allowing for vineyards to sell grapes and concentrate for people to make their own wine at home. The contents of the law was full of loopholes that were often exploited, such as whiskey prescription for medical reasons. The Prohibition saw a sharp increase in prescriptions written for patients that called for alcohol.

Prohibition had also decimated the alcohol-production industry, particularly that of winemaking. As mentioned previously, winemakers had to find loopholes and crafty ways to bypass the law. Many went out of business due to the fact that any alcohol over 0.5% was banned, and most wines had about a 13% alcohol content. Wine for sacramental purposes was allowed, and people who acted as imposters of church figures obtained wine through this alternative route.

Lack of support was widespread and only increased as Prohibition went on. The increase of chaos, loss of businesses, and most of all crime only caused any original support for the law to dwindle. Finally, at 3:32 p.m. on December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment was ratified, effectively nullifying the 18th Amendment and repealing Prohibition. As the Roaring Twenties came to a close, the United States of America saw that the tax revenue generated by legal sale of alcohol would help take the edge off of the financial burden that came with the Great Depression.

In conclusion, Prohibition in the United States is generally known as an unsuccessful experiment in enforcing morality in legislation. Illegal distilleries and speakeasies (establishments for illegally purchasing alcohol) broke out and encouraged the spread of crime. The Mafia was established as poor immigrants who found an easy way to make a great deal of money by selling alcohol to those in desperate want of it. Countless loopholes were exploited and enforcement of the laws, over time, decreased steeply. Despite the conviction by Congress that going dry would help the United States cut down on alcoholism and crime, Prohibition ended up doing the exact opposite. Overall, lack of support, increase in crime, unenforceability, and necessity of alcohol in society during the 1920s caused the ultimate downfall and failure of the American Prohibition.

CITATIONS (sorry that this version does not have them inline): http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/alcohol-prohibition-was-failure http://www.albany.edu/~wm731882/organized_crime1_final.html http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=441 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1655505/pdf/calwestmed00210-0040b.pdf http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/00492/Why_It_Did_Not_Work.htm http://www.netplaces.com/wine-guide/a-brief-history-of-wine/prohibition-wipes-out-an-industry.htm http://history.howstuffworks.com/american-history/prohibition.htm

Citations: (sorry that this version does not have them inline): http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/alcohol-prohibition-was-failure http://www.albany.edu/~wm731882/organized_crime1_final.html http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=441 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1655505/pdf/calwestmed00210-0040b.pdf http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/00492/Why_It_Did_Not_Work.htm http://www.netplaces.com/wine-guide/a-brief-history-of-wine/prohibition-wipes-out-an-industry.htm http://history.howstuffworks.com/american-history/prohibition.htm