The US prohibition experiment: myths, history and implications

Tyrrell, Ian

doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.1997.tb02861.x

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…The standard view provides the basis for lessons invoked routinely in policy debates about alcohol and other drugs [1,4–7]. Such lessons are invoked today by the alcohol industry in resisting any proposals to reduce the availability of alcohol, increase its price (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In drawing these policy lessons, the failure of NP is often regarded as so uncontroversial that it does not require citation of any sources [2,7]. This consensus differs from the nuanced views of historians (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[2]) and policy analysts (e.g. [8]), who argue that the American experience with alcohol prohibition was much more complicated than the standard account implies [2,5–7]. Some have argued that alcohol prohibition, if considered as a public health policy, reduced alcohol use and harm (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What are the policy lessons of National Alcohol Prohibition in the United States, 1920–1933?

Hall

2010

Addiction

111

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National alcohol prohibition in the United States between 1920 and 1933 is believed widely to have been a misguided and failed social experiment that made alcohol problems worse by encouraging drinkers to switch to spirits and created a large black market for alcohol supplied by organized crime. The standard view of alcohol prohibition provides policy lessons that are invoked routinely in policy debates about alcohol and other drugs. The alcohol industry invokes it routinely when resisting proposals to reduce the availability of alcohol, increase its price or regulate alcohol advertising and promotion. Advocates of cannabis law reform invoke it frequently in support of their cause. This paper aims: (i) to provide an account of alcohol prohibition that is more accurate than the standard account because it is informed by historical and econometric analyses; (ii) to describe the policy debates in the 1920s and 1930s about the effectiveness of national prohibition; and (iii) to reflect on any relevance that the US experience with alcohol prohibition has for contemporary policies towards alcohol. It is incorrect to claim that the US experience of National Prohibition indicates that prohibition as a means of regulating alcohol is always doomed to failure. Subsequent experience shows that partial prohibitions can produce substantial public health benefits at an acceptable social cost, in the absence of substantial enforcement.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What are the policy lessons of National Alcohol Prohibition in the United States, 1920–1933?

Hall

2010

Addiction

111

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“…Alcohol prohibition came into effect in half the states before the United States entered World War I, and a Federal prohibition on spirits production was introduced in 1918 as a wartime measure. Alcohol consumption in the United States increased after 1926, but US per‐capita alcohol consumption did not return to the levels seen before National Alcohol Prohibition until nearly 40 years after its Repeal .…”

Section: Evaluating the Effects Of The International Treaties And Drumentioning

confidence: 92%

The future of the international drug control system and national drug prohibitions

Hall

2017

Addiction

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A major impediment to any nation abandoning the policy of drug prohibition has been the fact that international drug treaties to which the majority of United Nations (UN) member states are signatory prohibit the non-medical use of amphetamines, cannabis, cocaine and heroin. The future of these treaties is now uncertain because of decisions by Uruguay, eight US states and Canada to legalize cannabis use. This paper: (1) provides a brief account of the international drug control treaties; (2) outlines the major criticisms of the treaties; (3) analyses critically proposals for treaty reform; and (4) provides a personal view on policies that nation states could adopt to minimize the harms from the use of cannabis, party drugs and hallucinogens, opioids, stimulants and new psychoactive substances. It is argued that: a major risk of cannabis legalization in the United States is promotion of heavy use and increased harm by a weakly regulated industry; some cautious national experiments with the regulation of party drugs and hallucinogens would be informative; a strong case remains for prohibiting the nonmedical use of opioids while mitigating the adverse effects that this policy has on opioid-dependent people; stimulant legalization will probably increase problem use but prohibition is difficult to enforce, highlighting the urgency of finding better ways to reduce demand for these drugs and respond to problem users; and that it is unclear what the best approach is to reducing possible harms that may arise from the use of new psychoactive substances.

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“…The author repeatedly quotes Andrew Sinclair (Sinclair, 1964) as an authority on prohibition, despite the fact that present-day historians would generally regard his conclusions as questionable. No reference is made to Gus eld's Symbolic Crusade (Gus eld, 1986), Rorabaugh's Alcoholic Republic (Rorabaugh, 1979) gets no mention, and there seems to be virtually no awareness of modern historical scholarship in this area (Tyrrell, 1997). Data on alcohol consumption levels and on health outcomes before, during and after the Prohibition era are not given.…”

Section: Alex Wodakmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The US prohibition experiment: myths, history and implications

Cited by 15 publications

References 4 publications

What are the policy lessons of National Alcohol Prohibition in the United States, 1920–1933?

What are the policy lessons of National Alcohol Prohibition in the United States, 1920–1933?

The future of the international drug control system and national drug prohibitions

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