Alcohol Prohibition temperance

To be clear, the CCLE is not suggesting that cigarettes or alcohol should be prohibited. Alcohol prohibition was a failure in all respects, again confirming that drug prohibition produces a net harm for individuals and society. See, Gusfield, Symboiic Crusade Status Poiitics and the American Temperance Movement 1986, 2nd ed.) University of Illinois Press. Thornton, Mark. (1991). Alcohol Prohibition was a Failure. Cato Policy Analysis, No. 157 http //www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-157.htmi... 

Alcohol prohibition was enacted several years later when in 1920, Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The legislation was a victory for the forces that viewed alcohol as evil and destructive, notably the Anti-Saloon League and the Women s Christian Temperance Union. And the amendment was not vague about its intent It prohibited the production, sale, transportation, and importing of alcohol in any part of the United States. The only exception was that alcoholic beverages kept in the home, such as naturally fermented hard cider, could be consumed but not offered for sale (Lender Martin, 1982). 

Temperance movements began to spring up in America largely supported by religious groups. By the eighteenth century the American Temperance Society promoted the concept of total abstinence from alcohol. In 1919 laws prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol nationwide were enacted, but these laws were repealed in 1933 by the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution. 

Alcohol problems were tremendous in America s history, although generally they were not considered serious until the nineteenth century. Great temperance crusades culminated in the passage of the Volstead Act in 1919, which prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages until it was repealed in 1933. Prohibition, as it was commonly known, left a mark that still colors some individuals attitudes on alcohol. Alcohol is now considered America s national drug. -... 

The strength of the temperance movement in overcoming economic realities of the day is illustrated by the effect the Eightieth Amendment had on the collection of fees by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In 1916, gross receipts at the IRS were 513 million, of which 241 million were derived from distilled spirits and fermented liquors. Thus, 47 percent of IRS receipts were from alcohol-related income versus 13 percent from personal income tax. The movement s fervor also affected the medical profession. With the cynical belief that physicians would discharge their responsibilities under prohibition no better than they had under the Harrison Act, new legislation was created. The specific law, the Willis-Campbell Act of 1921, was enacted in order to restrict the number of liquor prescriptions permitted by each physician. 

This heritage suggests that we have always loved our alcoholic beverages. True, in the United States during the early twentieth century, the temperance people hated alcohol, said it did the devil s work, but just about everybody else loved booze in any form and had a grand time getting drunk. Prohibition of alcohol, from 1920 to 1933, made piles of money for bootleggers and owners of speakeasies, but hardly reduced public consumption. 

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