What was the main consequence of prohibition?

Answer 1

Contempt for law enforcement

Dramatic increases in corruption

The dramatic decrease of alcohol consumption

Prohibition not only failed in its promises to eliminate alcohol problems but it actually created additional serious and disturbing social problems throughout society. This led to an increasing disillusionment by millions of Americans. Journalist H. L. Mencken wrote in 1925 that "Five years of prohibition have had, at least, this one benign effect: they have completely disposed of all the favorite arguments of the Prohibitionists. None of the great boons and usufructs that were to follow the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment has come to pass. There is not less drunkenness in the Republic but more. There is not less crime, but more. There is not less insanity, but more. The cost of government is not smaller, but vastly greater. Respect for law has not increased, but diminished."

Later 74% of Americans voted to repeal the disastrous experiment in social engineering known as National Prohibition.

Answer 2

There were several unintended consequences of prohibition, and while nearly impossible to list all of them, here are some of the more major ones.

Organized crime took to prohibition like moths to a flame. Millions upon millions of dollars were made each year by organized crime during prohibition, dollars that greatly strengthened their presence and their influence. Imagine something perfectly legal one day, and then illegal the next. Not only were they now able to very quickly gear up to match the public demand for underground alcohol (and the government kindly gave them a year to do so, since it didn't go into effect for nearly a year after it was signed into law) but now they could charge whatever they felt the market would bear. Just think about what a cigarette smoker is currently paying for a pack of cigarettes, and then think about what a heavily addicted smoker would still be willing to pay if it was deemed illegal. $15.00? $20.00? $25.00? The same went for alcohol.

Standards also went out the window. Thousands upon thousands of people were poisoned and hundreds died from drinking alcohol that was not safe for human consumption. Alcohol poisoning was extremely common during prohibition and most doctors were very good at diagnosing these symptoms. Isopropyl alcohol (more commonly known as 'rubbing alcohol') was often sold as a spirit or was unscrupulously mixed in with a more costly to produce grain alcohol in order to increase profit or quantity. The end product of Isopropyl alcohol after being digested by the human body is formaldehyde, a known poison, which was further absorbed by the digestive system. Methyl alcohol was also produced and in addition to contributing to alcohol poisoning, can cause blindness in even small amounts.

Money. One of the groups of people that most missed the money made from the sale of legal alcohol was the actually the government. They instantly lost one of their best and highest tax bases the moment that prohibition was passed and they struggled to replace the lost income. This, coupled with having to spend additional monies just in order to combat all of the illegal sales and manufacture of alcohol made it very very expensive for the US government.

Our blood boiled. Turned out we weren't fond of being told what to do and we (as a people) fought it tooth and nail. It wasn't just the unsavory that were still drinking, it was also the everyday 'law abiding' citizens that were also still drinking alcohol. Likely one or even both sets of your grandparents and great grandparents were probably engaging in this 'illegal behavior' to some degree or another and they weren't just buying it and drinking it; they were making it. In the woods, in their basement, in their attic and in their carriage houses. Stills were literally everywhere and still one of the most common 'antique' items you can find dating from the early 1900's. Prohibition was considered the 'great social experiment' and it was the first (and arguably) the only time that the US government tried (and failed) to 'moralize' it's people. There's no denying that legal alcohol has its own share of risks, and alcohol abuse was extremely prevalent back then (there used to be a bar/saloon for every three hundred people back then, nearly ten times what there are today. But using the law was clearly not the way to try to 'control' our social behavior and interactions.

Another unintended consequence of prohibition? This is a perennial favorite question for first year law students. It is the only time an amendment (the 18th) added to the US Constitution had to be repealed by another amendment (the 21st).

Answer 3

too much drinking, gambling and crime in general, especially gang related murders.

Answer 4

alcohol