Prohibition Dbq

Another factor that gave testament to the fact that many people were consuming illegal liquor during this period was the fact that thousands of deaths were attributed to tainted liquor. One can assume that prohibition caused the population to view alcohol as “forbidden fruit”. This caused them to take risks where they might not have even considered using alcohol before. Whiskey sold by bootleggers often made people sick as they were tainted with many poisonous additives. Many bootleggers stole industrial alcohol, industrial methanol or wood alcohol and redistilled it to make it drinkable. Between the years 1920 – 1925 almost 60 million gallons of industrial alcohol were stolen. Chemists employed by bootleggers changed the industrial alcohol

Studies conducted by both MIT and Boston University showed that consumption of alcohol fell by 70% during the early years of prohibition. While levels spiked during the late 1920’s they were still 30% lower than pre-prohibition levels. One might also argue that to this day there are counties where the sale of alcohol is still banned. Within these states it is still illegal for a person to even drive through a dry county with alcohol in the vehicle even when transporting it to a residence. Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, Virginia, Alaska and Mississippi still have a large proportion of dry counties.

Like the war, which catapulted the act into legislature, the depression was a huge factor in repealing the Act. The American economy was crippled and America needed the revenue that the alcohol industry would generate. In 1932 both parties in congress called for the 18th Amendment to be repealed. On December 5th 1933 the 21st Amendment was ratified to repeal the 18th Amendment, thus ending the age of prohibition and becoming the only Amendment to be repealed. After prohibition the states were left to decide how to govern alcohol consumption. Many states required that the legal drinking age be 21 although some required that a person be 18. By 1984 all US states required that the legal drinking age be 21.

In conclusion, although the intention of the Prohibition Act and the age of prohibition was to improve the lives of citizens by reducing health risks, violence and crimes caused by alcoholism, it had the opposite effect. As such, the Prohibition Act and the ensuing age of prohibition did not succeed in reducing the consumption and abuse of alcohol but instead created a virtual “monster” that created more problems rather than finding