PROHIBITION AND WHY IT WAS REVERSED - Thesis Example

24 May Alcohol Prohibition in US and its Annihilation: Owing to the massive usage ofalcohol and its potential threats to health, alcohol was banned in USA from 1920 up to 1933. The biggest supporters of the 18th Amendment to the US constitution were women who considered alcohol as the cause of sickness of their husbands and their financial crisis. The women were accompanied with the senators and doctors and through their mutual efforts, alcohol got banned in USA in 1920. In view of the negative effects of alcohol upon the society, the era of alcohol ban is also known as the Noble Experiment.

The Noble Experiment essentially banned all works associated with alcohol that include but are not limited to the making, transportation, storage and sale of alcohol. The 18th Amendment was proposed on 18 December, 1917. A temporary Wartime Prohibition Act was passed by the Congress in US on 18 November, 1918 that imposed a partial ban on alcohol by prohibiting the consumption of all such beverages in which the content of alcohol exceeded 2.75 per cent. With due approval from 36 states of US, and the 18th Amendment was approved on 16 January, 1919.

Finally on 17 January, 1920, the 18th Amendment was enforced. The move was so meaningful and important that some states in US had enforced the prohibition even before the formal approval of 18th Amendment for the very reason. After the enforcement of Prohibition of the manufacturing, storage and consumption of alcohol all over the US, the amount of liquor consumed by the public saw a drastic decline, though it was not without side effects. The Prohibition stimulated violence and criminal activity underground.

In the 1920s, which was essentially the period of Great Depression for many advanced and industrialized countries, Prohibition did not appeal to the public particularly in the bigger cities of US. Prohibition was supposed to lower crime and corruption, reduce social problems, lower taxes needed to support prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America. Instead, Alcohol became more dangerous to consume; organized crime blossomed; courts and prisons systems became overloaded; and endemic corruption of police and public officials occurred.

(“1920s Prohibition”). The benefits derived from the ban were temporary. The 18th Amendment caused an upset in the society and the rate of crime upsurged. The underground production and consumption did not remain limited to alcohol, but the production of all kinds of drugs started with it. The underground channels became well developed, and the smugglers’ and drug dealers’ businesses flourished. Moved by the growing pressure against the Prohibition of alcohol consumption, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Cullen-Harrison Act, as a modification of the Volstead Act on 22 March, 1933.

By doing this, President Franklin Roosevelt legalized the production and sale of alcoholic beverages of few kinds. But this did little to suppress the growth of pressure against the alcohol Prohibition and finally the 21st Amendment was ratified on 5 December, 1933 that cancelled the 18th Amendment. This was essentially the termination of alcohol ban in US. Works Cited:“1920s Prohibition.” 2005. Web. 24 May 2011. .