"The Twenty-first Amendment taught us that you don't have to have a national rule. States can work things out in different ways, there's always a danger about a national rule that had no exception to it."
--Former supreme court Justice John Paul Stevens, retired in 2010 (Blumenthal, 125)
--Former supreme court Justice John Paul Stevens, retired in 2010 (Blumenthal, 125)
Effects of the Prohibition
Overall, Prohibition greatly affected our nation. When the government attempted to regulate morality, it brought about a rise in organized crime and average citizens going out of their way to break a flawed law. Today, many people attempt to pass laws that regulate the morality of American citizens, such as laws against gay marriage and laws regulating drug use. There are also many organizations that attempt to prevent the use or overuse of alcohol.
"Alcoholism and alcohol abuse remain significant social problems, affecting more than 17 million American adults and their families. Today's problem of persistent homelessness, often linked to substance abuse and mental illness, has the same roots as the problem of drunkenness in the nineteenth century." |
"Parents still worry about protecting their children, especially when government statistics show that an estimated 5000 young people under the age of twenty-one die each year from alcohol-related car crashes or injuries." |