The Far-Lasting Negative Effects Of The Prohibition Era

Herbert Hoover once called this 13-year-long drought a “noble experiment”. The drought in question is none other than the ban on the sale, transport, and use of intoxicating beverages, during the Prohibition Era. This era had an impact like no other on the nation we call America as it created unforeseen consequences that have had far-lasting negative effects, it was futile in stopping what it was meant to, and it perfectly exemplifies the unsuccessful experiment that immaturely tested the constitution. To begin, it is appropriate to look at the blatant facts and the unnecessary things that prohibition caused in the long run of its inane attempts that still have a lasting effect on America. To give a visualization of what is being explained

Unfortunately, this is not the case as this so-called experiment was not successful. Once the law was passed there had to be people to enforce the law, so consequently, many people in the police force worked tirelessly to enforce this new law. As expected, the government had a constant “[struggle]” to “enforce Prohibition” as it was very “loosely” maintained especially in the more “urban areas” that were less fond of it (“Prohibition”). Even if people knew about the consequences of getting alcohol they would disregard it and break the law anyway. Essentially, all this law was doing was keeping honest people honest because, at the end of the day, criminals are still going to manage to break the law no matter what consequences are set in place. However, where this act was least effective was more on a “personal level” as Blumenthal explains. She states that “alcoholism and alcohol abuse” were still major problems even with Prohibition and “more than 17 million American adults and their families” were affected by this (Blumenthal). The scourge of these beverages cursed America and people went rabid without the sweet sensation of drinking booze. Moreover, this proves that people could still get alcohol despite the great effort that was meant to prevent this very thing. The government could not control every intoxicating drop and for that reason, it was impossible to

Testing America’s system of government killed people as an “average” of “1,000 Americans ' experienced fatality “every year” from the “effects of drinking tainted liquor” (Lerner). The necessity of creating toxic alcohol would not be there if this social trial was never ratified. There were serious side effects of the law that could have been avoided altogether. Adding on, “$11 billion lost in tax revenue” is not something that can be pushed aside as this is a mass amount of money and it has a detrimental effect on the economy overall (Lerner). Actions have consequences, and the consequences that followed this activity were severe. Many do not understand the stringency attached to this subject nonetheless it does not change the fact that this law had adverse outcomes. Hence, the citizens of the United States should not be lab rats for the government to observe, and the charter that was set up by our founding fathers should not be tempted even if it is seen as