US WA: PUB LTE: Stats Ascertain Prohibition Failed

[CLICKHEREx]

4 Aug 2014
Source: Columbian, The (WA)

Website: http://www.columbian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/92
Author: Jim Kennedy


STATS ASCERTAIN PROHIBITION FAILED

In a Los Angeles Times article appearing in The Columbian on July 29, "Pot: U.S. sees profound cultural shift," Stuart Gitlow, president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, is quoted thusly: "When you look back at Prohibition, what you see is that per-capita use of alcohol dropped by more than 50 percent; as a result of that, alcohol-related deaths dropped considerably as well. Prohibition was an enormous public health success." This is where the adage about not believing everything you read fits.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, alcohol-related deaths increased during that period from 1 per 100,000 in 1920 to 4 per 100,000 in 1928. Also, crime was rampant during that period as is indicated by this quote from Henry Hilfers, the then-president of the New Jersey State Federation of Labor ( before the Senate, May 1926 ): "The Volstead Act has been the direct result of creating more crime in the state of New Jersey than there ever has been before."

Shame on Gitlow for perpetuating a falsehood. Alcohol prohibition was an abysmal failure. I'm rather bemused it appears nothing was learned from that catastrophe.

Jim Kennedy

Vancouver


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I've been watching the TV documentary series "Prohibition", which clearly showed that it was a monumental failure, that in New York alcohol use actually increased, police and politicians were corrupted wholesale, ogranised crime / the Mafia became institutionalised, and many other people also went blind from wood alcohol (methanol) in bad liquor (which is one of the things that's currently occurring in Bali, and the rest of Indonesia, from Arak, which often is extended with methanol).

It actually began from racist ideology; the white Anglo-Saxon protestants organised politically and passed the Volstead Act to repress the Irish catholics and Germans, who often liked a drink. A fascinating series, with parallels to drug prohibition; another, even bigger, resounding failure; it's on SBS1 & SBS HD at 1.50 a.m. on Fridays, but check out your local guide.

As the lady said many decades ago, following its repeal: "You can't legislate morals".

"Those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it"

Edited August 8, 2014 by CLICKHEREx