Why did prohibition in the US fail?
I believe there were various reasons behind the failure of prohibition. Generally speaking, the majority of the population did not support the 18th amendment once it had come into effect. ‘Speakeasies’ (illegal bars) sprang up and were usually extremely successful. If I recall correctly, in New York there were far more Speakeasies during prohibition than there had been legitimate bars before the Volstead act. The government struggled to enforce the law, they recruited hundreds of prohibition agents but there still weren’t enough. The prohibition agents themselves were low paid and were highly susceptible to bribes making enforcement attempts even less effective. Furthermore, the opportunities offered by prohibition coming into effect brought about the increase of organised crime. Gangs sprang up in the major cities providing alcohol to the Speakeasies. This brought about other crimes as the inter-gang warfare occurred and famous events such as the St Valentine’s day Massacre demonstrat
