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Legalizing Drugs In Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather

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Everyone is trying to gain some sort of advantage over another person. People love money. It is a simple as that. When a highly profitable resource arises out of the blue, every money hungry person is trying to exploit that resource. Illegal drugs are that resource. However, not everyone will try to exploit this resource because it is illegal and the distribution of this drug is extremely dangerous. For the manufacturing, transportation, selling, use or possession of drugs, one can be severely punished. Even with this high risk, people will distribute illegal drugs because it is extremely profitable. As, in a scene in Francis Ford Coppola’s, the Godfather, there is a business negotiation on the terms of distributing drugs to poor neighborhoods …show more content…

The ratification of the 18th amendment banned the manufacturing, transportation, and sale of alcohol. This amendment was passed because people deemed that alcohol was a “destructive force in families and marriages” (History.com Staff). Also, factory owners supported prohibition because it made their workers more efficient and capable of working longer hours. In 1917, the United States entered WWI. President Woodrow Wilson enacted a temporary prohibition ban to save grain for producing food. In 1919, Congress ratified the 18th amendment, a national prohibition of alcohol. This amendment not only decreased the alcohol consumption, but it gave rise to illegal manufacturing and selling of alcohol. The 18th amendment gave opportunities for gangs all across America to rise up, and conduct illegal operations for the smuggling and selling of alcohol (History.com Staff). By the end of the 1920’s the support of prohibition had died down. After the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), the 21st amendment was ratified which repealed the 18th amendment. However, this did not get rid of the gangs which instead of smuggling alcohol, smuggled in illegal drugs and weapons. Instead of drinking alcohol people started using illegal substances. This created a demand for drugs which grew

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During this time, many people joined gangs and illegally transported and manufactured alcohol. Prohibition was a failure

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In 1919, Congress passed the 18th Amendment which banned the sale and consumption of alcohol in America (Doc B). Prohibitionists overlooked the tenacious American tradition of strong drink and of weak control by the central government. Thus, there was tension between the modernists and the traditionalists. Although the amendment was passed, alcohol was still distributed illegally. Actually, prohibition spawned many crimes, such as illegal sale of alcohol and gang wars.

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On January 16th of 1919, the American congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment, making all importing, exporting, transporting, selling, and manufacturing of alcohol illegal. It was not until 1920 that the Amendment was enforced. During the era of progressive reform, 1900-1919 it took much convincing to get congress to pass the Amendment. You have a majority of the population against prohibition because saloons were a social hangout for them where they hosted parties, weddings, etc. Then you have the rest of the population for prohibition because of economic, religious, and health reasons.

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Passed on December 18th, 1917 the United States passed the 18th Amendment, Prohibition. Prohibition was the reason for the large increase in crime in the United States during the 1920s. Prohibition was the restriction of manufacturing, selling, or transporting alcohol or liquor. Disliked by a large majority of the country, specifically upper class. The upper class created hidden bars and clubs called speakeasies.

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Prohibition was a big problem in the 1920s, so big that the people in the U.S. started comparing alcohol to water. “WATER & ALCOHOL ALIKE IN APPEARANCE DIFFERENT IN EFFECT” as well was “WATER: Necessary to Life, Benefits the Body” and “ALCOHOL: Unnecessary to Life, Injures the Body” (Doc 13). The list goes on and on, based off of the polar opposite effects alcohol has on a person's life compared to water, proving that it can only damage the human body and the environment rather than build it up. Many people in the country were opposed to the 18th amendment that supported Prohibition and its use of alcohol to people of all ages.

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When the 18th Amendment (Prohibition) was thought of, we thought that it would help us. We thought it would take the crime rates down; however we never dreamed it would bring them up. From 1919 to 1933 the crime rates went up tremendously, prohibition helped the bootleggers, the dope sellers, the gangsters, and the racketeers. This time period became known as the great depression. Why did Americans repeal the 18th Amendment and make alcohol legal again?

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In the years before Prohibition, the Progressive Movement created a mood of reform to improve society. The United States had just ended World War I against Germany a great producer of alcohol. In addition, businessmen like John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford strongly believed that alcohol was a threat to the economy because workers would go to work drunk and would not work efficiently. The United States repealed the 18th Amendment and allowed alcohol because of increased crime, problems with enforcement, and economic need. The first reason America repealed Prohibition was due to an increase in crime.

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As shown by the political cartoon made by Winsor McCoy, acts of organized crime made by gangsters, racketeers, bootleggers, and dope sellers (with the help of the Prohibition) led to the Great Depression. With all of these factors eventually leading to the largest economic downfall in United States history, it’s easy to see why American citizens wanted to remove the ban on alcohol. Also, the FBI Uniform Crime Reports show the number of homicides increased during Prohibition and decreased after Prohibition. In the crime report, the homicide rate increased from 7 homicides per 100,000 people to 10 homicides per 100,000 people during the Prohibition, and decreasing to 6 homicides per 100,000 people. This evidence points to the fact that crime and criminal activity played a huge part in the removal of the 18th

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enforcing the Prohibition would decrease crime rates. On the contrary, they increased. Franklin D. Roosevelt pledged to the end the Prohibition. Shortly after, in 1923, the 21st Amendment was put into place. The 21st Amendment repealed the ban on alcohol.

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“Thus came prohibition to the United States. Middle-class Americans—striving to revitalize and preserve American democracy and to usher in a new era of humanity, achievement, and progress—turned to prohibition as one device to achieve their goals.” (Callow) The Prohibition was a time where in the United States the sale and consumption of alcohol was illegal from 1920-1933. It was the 18th amendment which prohibited alcohol in the United States and it states, “The manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.”

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Things were really bad in 1920, when the National Prohibition Act was passed. The act made it illegal to drink, sell, or buy alcohol. This really enraged people, causing a huge crime surge. The law was passed to decrease crime, but the opposite happened. Alcohol was still being sold, made, and drunk.

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However, the law made the sale, manufacture, and use of all alcohol illegal. Prohibition failed because it was not easily enforced, it destroyed businesses and jobs, and lead to the rise of organized crime. It was a nice day on January 16th, 1919 when the 18th Amendment was ratified in congress and many celebrated the outlawing of alcohol. It didn’t take long however for people to find ways to break the law without getting caught which flourished the illegal alcohol trade. Speak-easies were popular during the 1920s and would be

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In the 1920’s the 18th Amendment caused the prohibition of manufacturing, selling and transporting intoxicating-liquors. Alcohol in the United States was not longer legal. However, this did not stop most people from not consuming any alcohol.

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Essentially, although drugs have been held accountable for gang violence and other acts of violence that have occurred within communities, the illegality of drugs indeed may have aggravated the situation. In addition, it has become evident that one of the primary objectives of the war on drugs, which is to limit supply and demand, has been largely ineffective. CSDP (2007) “ According to the United Nations, profits in illegal drugs are so inflated that three-quarters of all drug shipments would have

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The effects of legalizing drugs would not have a major effect on organized crime. Situation in the past support the theory that organize crime would still thrive even without the sale of illegal drugs. The corruption, extortion, and trafficking would still be a major source of organized crimes income. In the 1920’s and early 30s when we had prohibition crime groups ran the illegal “speak easy”. The sale of illegal alcohol is similar to the sale of illegal drugs today.

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