Prohibition

This article is about the prohibition of alcoholic beverages; separate articles on the prohibition of drugs in general and writs of prohibition are also available.

Prohibition was any of several periods during which the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages were restricted or illegal.

Prohibition in the United States

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"Prohibition enforced," as illustrated by a USPS stamp.

In the United States, Prohibition was accomplished by means of the Eighteenth Amendment to the national Constitution (ratified January 16, 1919) and the Volstead Act (passed October 28, 1919). Prohibition began on January 16, 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect. Federal Prohibition agents (police) were given the task of enforcing the law.

Prohibition also referred to that part of the Temperance movement which wanted alcohol made illegal. Prohibitionists had some success even before national prohibition; in 1905, three American states had already outlawed alcohol; by 1912, it was up to nine states; and, by 1916, legal prohibition was already in effect in 26 of the 48 states.

Even though the sale of alcohol was illegal, alcoholic drinks were still widely available at "speakeasies" and other underground drinking establishments. The disreputable speakeasies gained their name from the fact that a patron had to "speak easy" and convince the doorman to let them in. His job was to keep out those who looked like they were "dry" agents. Agents had no forced-entry rights at all, and so could not break into an establishment if the doorman refused them entry. Many people also kept private bars to serve their guests. Large quantities of alcohol were smuggled in from Canada, overland and via the Great Lakes, and from the French islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. Additional alcohol was delivered from Rum Row off the US East Coast.

Legal and illegal home brewing was popular during Prohibition. Limited amounts of wine and hard cider were permitted to be made at home. Some commercial wine was still produced in the U.S., but was only available through government warehouses for use in religious ceremonies, particularly for communion in Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian and Episcopal churches and in some Jewish ceremonies. "Malt and hop" stores popped up across the country and some former breweries turned to selling malt extract syrup, ostensibly for baking and "beverage" purposes.

Whiskey was available by prescription from medical doctors. The labels clearly warned that it was strictly for medicinal purposes and any other uses were illegal, but even so doctors freely wrote prescriptions and druggists filled them without question, and the number of "patients" soared. Authorities never tried to restrict this practice, which was the way many people got their booze: Over a million gallons were consumed per year through freely given prescriptions.

Because Prohibition banned only the manufacture, sale, and transport--but not possession or consumption--of alcohol, some people and institutions who had bought or made liquor prior to the passage of the 18th Amendment were able to continue to serve it throughout the prohibition period legally.

Even prominent citizens and politicians later admitted to having used alcohol during Prohibition. President Harding kept the White House well stocked with bootleg liquor, though, as a Senator, he had voted for Prohibition. This discrepancy between legality and actual practice led to widespread disdain for authority. Some Prohibition agents took bribes to overlook the illegal brewing activities of gangsters. Many problems arose. It had been estimated that six million dollars would be needed to enforce prohibition laws. Over time, however, more people drank illegally and money ended up in gangsters' pockets. Gangsters would then bribe officials to ignore their illegal activities. The cost of enforcing prohibition laws thus increased. In some cases, the money likely ended up in corrupt Prohibition agencies.

Prohibition also presented lucrative opportunities for organized crime to take over the importation ("bootlegging"), manufacture, and distribution of alcoholic beverages. Al Capone, one of the most famous bootleggers of them all, built his criminal empire largely on profits from illegal alcohol.

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Houston prohibition officers Claude Beverly and Carl Greene with captured stills.

With alcohol production largely in the hands of criminals and unregulated clandestine home manufacturers, the quality of the product varied widely. There were many cases of people going blind or suffering from brain damage after drinking "bathtub gin" made with industrial alcohol or various poisonous chemicals. One particular notorious incident involved the patent medicine Jamaica ginger, known by its users as "Jake." It had a very high alcohol content and was known to be consumed by those desiring to circumvent the ban on alcohol. The Treasury Department mandated changes in the formulation to make it undrinkable. Unscrupulous vendors then adulterated their Jake with an industrial plasticizer in an attempt to fool government testing. As a result, tens of thousands of victims suffered paralysis of their feet and hands—usually, this paralysis was permanent. Some amateur distillers used old automobile radiators to distill liquor, and the subsequent product was dangerously high in lead salts--which usually led to fatal lead poisoning. Amateur distillation of liquor could be dangerous to the producer as well, since poorly built stills sometimes exploded in flames.

There were also many alcoholic products that fell just under the legal limit, and yet, with a bit of work, could become the real thing. One particular beverage was called "near beer," because it fell under the 0.5-percent ban, being virtually nonalcoholic. It gave detailed, step-by-step instructions on what the buyer should not (under any circumstances) do with it, for then he would have alcohol, and that was illegal. Consumers could simply use the easy-to-follow instructions to make an alcoholic beer.

In the 1890s, ethanol (grain alcohol) was the first fuel used in American automobiles. Alcohol-powered engines were used in farm machines, train locomotives, and cars in Europe and the United States. In 1919, Prohibition police destroyed corn-alcohol stills, which many farmers used to make their low-cost ethanol fuel. Prohibition taxes slowed the use of ethanol as a fuel. This increased farmers' expenses and forced them to rely on petroleum fuels.

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Carl Greene was killed by a bootlegger shortly after this picture was taken.

Mockery of the law took many forms. There were, however, exceptions to this public scorn, such as the activities of Eliot Ness and his elite team of Treasury Agents nicknamed The Untouchables, and the New York City prohibition agent team of Izzy Einstein and Moe Smith, known together as simply Izzy and Moe. For these exceptions, Ness' honesty and flair for public relations and Izzy and Moe's more eccentric, but highly effective, methods with disguises attracted considerable media attention

The Volstead Act was amended to allow "3.2 beer" (3.2 percent alcohol by volume) by passage of the Blaine Act on February 17, 1933. The Eighteenth Amendment was repealed later in 1933 with ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment on December 5.

The Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed nationwide prohibition, explicitly gives states the right to restrict or ban the purchase and sale of alcohol; this has led to a patchwork of laws, in which alcohol may be legally sold in some but not all towns or counties within a particular state. After the repeal of the national constitutional amendment, some states continued to enforce prohibition laws; Oklahoma, Kansas, and Mississippi were still "dry" in 1948. Mississippi, which had made alcohol illegal in 1907, was the last state to repeal prohibition, in 1966. While there are still some dry counties and communities in the United States (mainly in the South), in practice this now means little more than that people wishing to buy alcohol must travel some distance to do so and bars are not allowed in the prohibiting jurisdiction.

Many social problems have been attributed to the Prohibition era. A profitable, often violent, black market for alcohol flourished. Racketeering happened when powerful gangs corrupted law enforcement agencies. Stronger liquor surged in popularity because its potency made it more profitable to smuggle. The cost of enforcing prohibition was high, and the lack of tax revenues on alcohol (some $500 million annually nationwide) affected government coffers. When repeal of prohibition occurred in 1933, following passage of the Twenty-first Amendment, organized crime lost nearly all of its black market alcohol profits, due to competition with low-priced alcohol sales at legal liquor stores. Organized crime later adjusted by selling illegal drugs instead. The black market thrives on the sale of any illegal product. On such points as these, the modern "War on Drugs" has been compared to Prohibition. There is disagreement on the validity of this comparison.

Prohibition had a notable effect on the brewing industry in the United States. When Prohibition ended, only half the breweries that had previously existed reopened. Many small breweries were out of business for good. Because mainly the largest breweries had survived, American beer came to be chided as a characterless, mass-produced commodity. Beer connoisseurs lamented the decreased quality and variety. It was only in the 1980s that craft brewing finally recovered. Fritz Maytag has been credited with jumpstarting the microbrew revolution that awoke brewing from its post-Prohibition doldrums.

Some surprising facts about Prohibition:

During Prohibition, temperance activists hired a scholar to rewrite the Bible by removing all references to alcohol beverage.

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) strongly supported Prohibition and its strict enforcement.

A major prohibitionist group, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) taught as "scientific fact" that the majority of beer drinkers die from dropsy.

When the ship, Washington, was launched, a bottle of water rather than tradional champagne or wine, was ceremoniously broken across her bow.

Prohibition in other countries

The first half of the 20th century saw periods of Prohibition in several countries

1901 to 1948 in Prince Edward Island, and for shorter periods in other locations in Canada,
1914 to 1925 in Russia (called "sukhoy zakon", also transcribed as Sukhoi zakon)
1915 to 1922 in Iceland (though beer was still prohibited until 1989)
1916 to 1927 in Norway (wine and beer also included in 1917)
1919 to 1932 in Finland (called "kieltolaki")
Several spells between 1950 and 2000 in several states of India including Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat.

A number of Muslim-majority countries ban or restrict the manufacture and consumption of alcohol.

The word prohibition may refer to any law banning the sale and consumption of alcohol, in particular, local laws that have the same effect. Lexicologically, the prohibition of something is the banning of something, whether it be alcohol, drugs, or any other item

Australia

Alcohol is prohibited in many remote indigenous communities across Australia. Penalties for transporting alcohol into these "dry" communities are severe and can result in confiscation of any vehicles involved. In the Northern Territory, all vehicles used to transport alcohol are seized and there is no right of appeal.

There have been various places proclaimed alcohol free in the past, including Australia's capital city, Canberra, which was dry from 1910 to 1928. The politician King O'Malley ran legislation through Federal Parliament in Melbourne at the time the capital territory was established. When Federal Parliament moved from Melbourne to Canberra in 1927, one of the first pieces of legislation passed in the new Parliament House was the repeal of O'Malley's prohibition laws.

A number of Melbourne's suburbs had a long running prohibition on the sale (though not consumption) of alcohol. One or two still exist. Ascot Vale was founded as a dry suburb, but hotels were soon built at the outside corners of the settlement.

Similarly, the irrigation settlement of Mildura was also founded with a prohibition on the sale of alcohol in 1887. This was inaugurated by its founders, the Chaffey brothers. However, the brothers also operated a winery, even producing fortified wine. Alcohol was readily available from nearby Wentworth however, and the ban was eventually lifted.

Canada

Canadian prohibition was enacted through laws passed by the provinces during the first twenty years of the twentieth century. Prince Edward Island was the first to bring in prohibition in 1901. Alberta passed a prohibition law in 1916. Quebec was the last in 1919. The provinces then repealed their prohibition laws, mostly during the 1920s. Quebec was first to repeal in 1920, giving it the shortest amount of time with prohibition enforced; Prince Edward Island was last in 1948. Alberta repealed in 1924, along with Saskatchewan, upon realizing that the laws were unenforceable.

Scandinavian countries

Scandinavia, with the exception of Denmark, has had a long temperance tradition. Prohibition existed in Iceland from 1915 to 1922 with beer prohibited until 1989, in Norway from 1916 to 1927 and in Finland between 1919 and 1932. Norway, for example, still has an active and apparently influential prohibition party. Scandinavian countries today, with the exception of Denmark, are characterized by neo-prohibitionism.

Muslim-majority countries

Middle East and Central Asia

Saudi Arabia completely bans the production, importation or consumption of alcohol and imposes strict penalties on those violating the ban, as does Kuwait. The United Arab Emirates restricts the purchase of alcohol from a liquor store to non-Muslim foreigners who have UAE residence permits and who have an Interior Ministry liquor license. However bars, clubs, and other establishments with liquor licenses do not face the same restrictions. Alcohol is also permitted in Bahrain, popular with those crossing the causeway from Saudi Arabia.

Iran began restricting alcohol consumption and production soon after the 1979 Revolution, with harsh penalties meted out for violations of the law. However, officially recognized non-Muslim minorities are allowed to produce wine for their own private consumption. Alcohol was banned in Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban.

Pakistan

Pakistan allowed the free sale and consumption of alcohol for three decades from 1947, but restrictions were introduced by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto just weeks before he was removed as prime minister in 1977. Since then, only members of non-Muslim minorities such as Hindus, Christians and Zoroastrians are allowed to apply for permits for alcohol. The monthly quota depends on their income but is usually about five bottles of liquor or 100 bottles of beer. In a country of 140 million, only about 60 outlets are allowed to sell alcohol and the country's only legal brewery, Murree Brewery in Rawalpindi, is not allowed to export. Enforced by the country's Islamic Ideology Council, the ban is strictly policed. However, members of religious minorities often sell their liquor permits to Muslims and a black market trade in alcohol continues. [1]

Bangladesh

Bangladesh has also imposed prohibition, though some hotels and restaurants are licensed to sell alcohol to foreigners. Foreigners (but not locals) are allowed to import small quantities of alcohol for personal use.

Brunei

Non-Muslims may bring small quantities of alcohol into Brunei for personal consumption.

Sudan

Sudan and Jordan have banned alcohol consumption.

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