Michael Leger On The Consequences Of Prohibition

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Historian Michael Lerner states that there are a series of unintended consequences as a result of the enactment of the the Eighteenth Amendment and Volstead Act during the Prohibition era. He first states previous attempts by local and state governments to pass prohibition laws and all of them encouraging negative consequences. He next states the negative economic effects with a profound example stating “Prohibition cost the federal government a total of $11 billion in lost tax revenue, while costing over $300 million to enforce.” The legal exceptions to the law allowed for schemes, such as bootleggers in New York to become pharmacist which caused “the number of registered pharmacists in New York State to triple”. The greatest consequence