Why Alcohol Should Be Illegal

Alcohol was seen as the devil's advocate and banning the substance would help improve the quality of American lives. Instead, crime rates rocketed as well as the amount of violence. The selling of liquor during the prohibition was coined as the term, “bootlegging.” Bootleggers used waterways, rivers, cars, and trains to transport alcohol across state line. When the American people became desperate the resulted to homemade alcohol. Due to alcohol being made in homes and other places that weren’t certified for the production of Alcohol, the quality became poor and this resulted in many people contracting illnesses. Death from alcohol poisoning alone had risen to over 400%. It is argued that alcohol was less easily obtainable before prohibition since the bootlegging industry was so immense. You could now purchase alcohol on almost any street in America, because it was being made and sold everywhere (Nash “Organized Crime in the 1920's and

Many Americans do not feel like adults until their 21st birthday. At age 18 an American has the ability to vote, be drafted or enlist into the military, own a weapon, request a loan, get married, buy cigarettes and many more liberties and consequences that come when a teenager becomes an adult. Nonetheless, in the United States and adult does not have the ability to legally drink until the age of 21. I find the regulation of alcohol necessary and as a protection for the citizens because, as the article “Effects of Alcohol Use” states, the abuse of alcohol contributes to liver damage, leads into driving under the influence, domestic violence and in the long term it can cause cancer and death of brain cells. However, I believe that the alcohol regulation is bias and should be at the same level of liberty as voting, joining the military, owning a weapon, buying cigarettes, requesting a loan and getting married.

In 1919, The US ratified the 18th Amendment which is declared illegal to manufacture, transport, and sell alcoholic beverages. Between from 1920 to 1933 America has promulgated prohibition who drunk because most men drunk in most times even during break time off work. They gradually lost their control and taking abuse, crime on their children. A lot of problems happened in the family like violence, fighting, and the worse thing is the divorce. Drunken men who did not work at all would not be able to afford, provide, and care for their families. America repealed Prohibition for three main reasons during this time: the Volstead Act because it was a law, the act of Congress that helped to prevent people from selling alcohol, illegal but it failed, Progressive Movement because it showed how many serious problems happened behind drinking that affected to life, and social evils of drinking. While there are three main causes, the most significant cause the repeal of Prohibition in America was social evils or consequences of drinking because in (Doc. B) homicides increased which made crime raised and thousands of Americans killed, the scenes of the US government (Doc.D) because the governor violated the law, and depression (Doc. A) because Uncle Sam, the US government worked with gangsters, racketeer, bootlegger, and dope seller.

Think About how long thirty minutes is. How many thirty minutes are in a day, quite a few, twenty six to be exact. On average one person dies every 30 minutes due to an automobile accident caused by alcohol. Not only does alcohol kill, it clouds decisions, and is involved in a large percent of crime. Alcohol doesn’t stop there it negatively effects our youth. Alcohol is the worst drug problem in the U.S.

Alcohol abuse has become one of the principal causes of mortality and morbidity in the United States causing more than 200,000 deaths every year (Hendey, Dery, Barnes, Snowden, &

The prohibition of alcohol was a mistake that the United States government made in the 1920s. Making alcohol illegal led to a decrease in tax revenue and an increase in government spending. The government started Prohibition to produce more money, but it was actually lost. Prohibition also led to an increase in organized crime. Citizens wanted alcohol, so they tried to do whatever it took to obtain it. Lastly, the prohibition of alcohol caused some government officials to be corrupt. The government officials chose to function off of their own self interests rather than what the government wanted them to do. Overall, Prohibition was a waste of time for the United States government and its citizens.

People were uneducated on the fact that making alcohol from wood was a serious danger to the human body and could cause serious damage. This unverified alcohol killed about 10,000 people in the 1920’s. It created health problems such as organ damage and blindness. This law also created a problem for all the alcoholics who could not admit to their poor habit, because it would only result in an unwanted arrest due to the burden they carried with them of alcoholism. Victims were left to deal with their addiction without the therapy they required to heal themselves.

“On January 16, 1920, the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol were prohibited (“Prohibition”).” Anywhere handling alcohol was required to shut down (“Prohibition”). Many people believed that alcohol was the root of many problems, so that with the elimination of it our nation’s problems might decrease. The ‘noble experiment’, as many called it, was supposed to relieve the nation of issues like, crime, social problems, tax burden, and health issues (Thornton). With Prohibition being set into motion we actually saw the opposite of what we had hoped. The new amendment was ineffective because the crime rates increased, the work force changed, and health problems skyrocketed.

Predicaments with Prohibition The social commentator and American cowboy Will Rogers once stated, “Prohibition is better than no liquor at all.” In the early 1900’s, alcohol abuse tore families apart and was, and still is the leading abused drug. The introduction and repeal of Prohibition failed to eliminate the domestic and social problems caused by alcohol in the United States in the early 1900’s. The introduction and enforcement of the quickly became corrupt, and eventually became evident that the ban on alcohol could not be achievable for the United States, and its alcoholically accustomed citizens.

The prohibition was brought on by the strong temperance movement happening in America in the early 1900’s. These groups were devout Christians who vowed to be sober as they saw the affect alcohol had on families. But the members of this movement campaigned for everyone to give up alcohol. The arguments of the Temperance groups were so strong that they eventually convinced state governments to prohibit the sale and produce of alcohol in their state. Politicians backed this movement as it secured them votes in the rural areas, and by 1916, the sale and production of alcohol had been banned in 21 states. USA’s entry into the war strengthened this movement, as drinkers were being labelled as ‘Unpatriotic

As a result of this new law, a new social problem arose. “Seldom has law been more flagrantly violated. Not only did Americans continue to manufacture, barter, and possess alcohol; they drank more of it.” Americans who supported prohibition, argued that if drinking alcohol was illegal, the public would recognize and respect the law, and in turn, would give it up. During the start of prohibition, it appeared as though it was working. But, what was really going on, was that since the transportation and production was not allowed, bootleggers had to find ways to do it without being caught. The price of beer rose, because it had to be transported in large barrels, which was more difficult. As a result, people started drinking more potent hard liquor. It took less to get drunk, therefore it was easier to transport, thus, it was cheaper. Americans would drink this potent liquor and get drunk a lot faster, for less money. As a downfall, however, the liquor had no standards. The rate of alcohol related deaths due to poisoning drastically increased from 1,064 in 1920, to 4,154 in 1925.

In this day and age, when it comes to alcohol consumption and laws of alcohol use in countries around the world, many people debate about whether the legal drinking age should be raised, lowered, or stay the same. What about a society where alcohol would be illegal?? Well, when it comes to the sheer number of deaths that occur from drunk driving alone, you’d end up agreeing with it. To add to this, addiction is always a risk to be taken into consideration, because it leads to alcohol poisoning, eventually causing death. All in all, alcohol is something that is just as addictive as any other drug, and should it be treated as an illegal drug as well. The following are just some of the many reasons why this should be so.

Alcohol is something that has been part of human nature for thousands of years. It has been used by means of medical, social, religious, and cultural settings (Information about Alcohol, n.d.). Alcohol is going to be a product that will be a part of our lives for many years to come, definitely past our lifetime. A problem that we see today is the use of drinking and driving. This is one of life’s more dangerous and stupid activities, but people still decide to do it. People like to push their abilities to the edge, which could end up causing death to themselves and others. When we watch the news, there always seems to be at least one crash that involved a drunk driver. You have to remember that one incident happened in our city,

During the 1920s, due to the rise in temperance movements and religious drive to outlaw the consumption of alcohol, Prohibition was officially instated. Unprepared for by the government, a new illegal business opportunity resulted because many Americans were defiant towards the new amendment and were determined to drink as they saw fit. This was the illegal importation and distribution of liquor in the United States. Due to the enactment of Prohibition, the unlawful smuggling of alcohol provided economic opportunities for few but affected the majority with its health, legal, and safety risks.

Alcohol in large doses can be very detrimental to not only the user but to people around him/her. For example, if a man was to go to a club and drink a lot of alcohol, in which his body cannot withhold; his heavy intakes will lead to dizziness, vomiting, and impaired breathing and in extreme cases, unconsciousness and coma that can lead to death. According to Caron, underage drinking is a leading public health problem in the United States. Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of drinking: 1,900 from motor vehicle accidents, 1,600 from homicides, 300 from suicides, and hundreds from other injuries such as falls, burns, and drowning. This shows that anyone on the road near an intoxicated driver is in grave danger as they can be killed or badly injured in an instant as the drunk driver has slight control over anything they are doing. Many reckless kills have been made by drunken drivers/people over the years resulting in many families to pay the price of losing a family member for no relevant reason at all but making alcohol increase death rates that could be provoked by intruding prohibition.