Prohibition
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Prohibition refers to the laws which forbid the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcoholic beverages. Examples include gin, rum, beer, vodka, wine, and whiskey.
Prohibition in The United States
Throughout the 1600's and 1700's it was often unsafe for the colonists to drink impure water or unpasteurized milk, and it was not economical to drink coffee or tea. As a result the colonists often drank beer, rum, wine, and hard cider.
Physicians and ministers of the time were concerned that alcohol was bad for a persons health, moral behavior, and believed it promoted poverty. People began encouraging temperance, control over drinking habits. At first supporters of temperance asked that drinkers regulate and moderate themselves in their drinking habits. Later the supporters moved on to prohibition after they became convinced the addictive properties of alcohol were too strong.
The first temperance crusade in the 1820's and 30's attempted to decrease the average annual intake of pure alcohol per person to about 3 gallons. Led by Maine in 1851, about a dozen states passed prohibition laws.
After the Civil War began in 1861, the support for prohibition fell off. People who favored prohibition, often called drys or prohibitionists, formed a number of organizations to promote liquor reform and renew their support. The Prohibition Party, founded in 1869, presented prohibitionist candidates for political office.
Many economic, political, and social reforms were carried out in 1900 to 1920 by the United States. During this time, for a variety of reasons, many reformers supported national prohibition. Social reformers believed alcohol was the cause of health problems, poverty, and domestic violence. Political reformers perceived saloons as the cause of the corruption in urban political organizations. Employers felt that drunkenness had adverse effects on their workers' safety and productivity.
The 18th Amendment
In 1920, the 18th amendment was added to the US constitution, enacting a prohibition on alcohol. The amendment was ignored by a large portion of the United States population. People continued to consume alcohol, acquired from networks of bootleggers. The 18th amendment was later repealed in 1933, the only amendment ever repealed.
Narcotics Prohibition
Federal laws were passed to prohibit the consumption of various drugs which are today illegal. Unlike the prohibition on alcohol drug prohibition was not supported by a constitutional amendment, which makes the validity of the laws highly suspect. Different substances were banned at different times, and through different acts of legislation. The earliest bans were against cocaine and heroin. These early drug laws experienced little opposition because in addition to a general puritanical ethic, law makers saw these drugs as being associated with minority groups. Cocaine for example was often used by southern blacks, due to the fact that African Americans were prohibited from purchasing alcohol in many southern juridictions. racism also played a role in the prohibition of opium, which was associated with Chinese immigrants.(1)
Sources 1 See the History Channel Special "Hooked: Illegal Drugs and How They Got That Way" Availible for purchase at www.history.com
