What do you think would happen if tobacco and alcohol were made illegal to sell and buy?
We tried banning alcohol once, in the twenties with the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and it was a miserable failure. After an initial drop in consumption, alcohol got more popular than ever, and there were home-made and black market versions of the stuff that was more harmful to people than what was banned. It also led to big law enforcement problems. Ultimately the 18th Amendment was repealed, with the institution of the 21st Amendment. I think the same thing would happen again if alcohol–or tobacco–were made illegal. I found an interesting article about why Prohibition was a failure. Here’s the first little part of it. You can go to the link in “Sources” to read the rest. Alcohol Prohibition Was A Failure by Mark Thornton Mark Thornton is the O. P. Alford III Assistant Professor of Economics at Auburn University. Executive Summary National prohibition of alcohol (1920-33)–the “noble experiment”–was undertaken to reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, redu
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