Thread by @finshots

How an experiment to ban alcohol backfired.

A thread.

In the 1920s, the US #government decided to ban the manufacture & sale of alcohol to reduce crime rates.

But “the noble experiment,” as it came to be known, cost more than $300M to enforce, lasted for just a decade and the federal government lost $11B in tax revenue.

So what went wrong?

For starters, this prohibition proved to be bad for the #economy - thousands of jobs were lost when breweries, distilleries, and pubs shut down. Restaurants couldn’t make enough money without liquor sales either.

And here’s the interesting part - drinking was never illegal during this era. It was just the manufacture, sale & distribution of alcohol that was banned.

So people certainly didn’t stop drinking. Instead, they switched to a different route to fulfill their needs, i.e. illegal purchasing.

Now, this bootleg alcohol was often of less quality, sometimes even lethal. In fact, during the dry era, at least 1000 Americans on average died every year because of drinking tainted liquor.

What’s more, is that the whole rationale behind this move i.e reduction of crime also failed as crime rates saw a hike in this era. Gangsters like Al Capone made ~$60M annually from bootleg operations.

In fact, the illegal alcohol trade turned millions of formerly law-abiding citizens into criminals.

Thus, for obvious reasons, when Franklin D. Roosevelt promised to end prohibition in 1932, he won the presidency and eventually repealed the ban on alcohol. And the entire country raised a toast to ending “The Noble Experiment”.

Sources and further reading:

Why didn’t prohibition work? You asked Google – here’s the answer- The Guardian

Prohibition began 100 years ago- CNBC

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