How Did Prohibition Created A Wave Of Change In Canada

From the late 1910s to the mid 1920s, the government of Canada began its noble experiment, the legal act of prohibiting the manufacture, storage, transportation and sale of alcohol. Prohibition was led by the Temperance movement, who blamed alcohol for society's ills of the time, such as domestic violence and public drunkenness. This law was repealed around Canada soon after. This essay argues that Prohibition created a wave of change, such as the introduction of large-scale organized crime, and the corruption of law, war against culture, that helped shape the culture of Canada far during Prohibition and even after the Repeal. Prohibition , a well intentioned attempt to rid Canada of society's ills, was not only a war on alcohol, but

Alcohol had become illegal and presumably consumption would decrease, but interestingly enough, most drinking was done illegally and therefore not included in such statistics. In correlation with the rising liver cirrhosis statistics in 1920s , it is evident that alcohol consumption did not decrease but rather increased. Citizens had found their way around the law-- creating a huge black market for the illegal commodity and bootleggers were happy to supply to this demand. Prior to Prohibition, crime was mostly on an individual level-- however, Prohibition generated a huge demand that required complex systems in producing, storing and transporting it across the borders. Prohibition, without intention to do so, was able to transform the loosely associated gangs into large scale organized crime that spread like a deadly virus. In 1920, there were 1300 gangs in Chicago alone, all looking to make it rich from a dry city . Prohibition was able to develop gang culture and changed the perspective concerning organized crime. Due to the immense scale of these bootlegging operations, gangsters were forced to bribe police and government officials to turn a blind eye to their activity . Not only were these gangsters well paid and out of authoritative sight, but they became well liked by the general public. Gangsters were hailed as Robin Hood characters-- who bent the rules to appease the demands of the general public-- and dominated the various cities they provided drink to. People and Hollywood became fascinated by crime gangs, and gangsters' legacies popularized gangster films and crime dramas . Their popularity extended to fashion; many men chose to emulate their favourite gangsters in their fashion choices. Even after the Repeal, organized crime had already become quite affluent, with