PROHIBITION AND WHY IT WAS REVERSED Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

PROHIBITION AND WHY IT WAS REVERSED - Thesis Example riment essentially banned all works associated with alcohol that include but are not limited to the making, transportation, storage and sale of alcohol. The 18th Amendment was proposed on 18 December, 1917. A temporary Wartime Prohibition Act was passed by the Congress in US on 18 November, 1918 that imposed a partial ban on alcohol by prohibiting the consumption of all such beverages in which the content of alcohol exceeded 2.75 per cent. With due approval from 36 states of US, and the 18th Amendment was approved on 16 January, 1919. Finally on 17 January, 1920, the 18th Amendment was enforced. The move was so meaningful and important that some states in US had enforced the prohibition even before the formal approval of 18th Amendment for the very reason. After the enforcement of Prohibition of the manufacturing, storage and consumption of alcohol all over the US, the amount of liquor consumed by the public saw a drastic decline, though it was not without side effects. The Prohibition stimulated violence and criminal activity underground. In the 1920s, which was essentially the period of Great Depression for many advanced and industrialized countries, Prohibition did not appeal to the public particularly in the bigger cities of US. Prohibition was supposed to lower crime and corruption, reduce social problems, lower taxes needed to support prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America. Instead, Alcohol became more dangerous to consume; organized crime blossomed; courts and prisons systems became overloaded; and endemic corruption of police and public officials occurred. (â€Å"1920s Prohibition†). The benefits derived from the ban were temporary. The 18th Amendment caused an upset in the society and the rate of crime upsurged. The underground production and consumption did not remain limited to alcohol, but the production of all kinds of drugs started with it. The underground channels became well developed, and the smugglers’ and drug