National Prohibition in America :: Eighteenth Amendment

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  National Prohibition, brought about by the Eighteenth Amendment and enforced through the Volstead Act, lasted for over ten years. Besides a growing lack of public support for both Prohibition and temperance itself, the outlaw of alcohol continued throughout the United States—at least in the law books. In practice, however, National Prohibition was much less effective than temperance and Prohibition leaders had hoped, in the end causing more problems than it solved. Once started, Prohibition led to the rise in crime during the twenties, the public health problems associated with bootleg liquor and alcohol substitutes, the problems between religious, racial, and the political rise in response to its presence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Prohibition did enjoy some success. History revealed that alcohol drinking did drop after the National Prohibition and the Volstead Act. This lower on a national level was not all that much to the effect of recent problems in specific areas or communities. Also, after this drop alcohol drinking continued to rise through Prohibition to the point where it was thought drinking would actually pass pre-Prohibition levels. The same was true of alcohol related diseases while lowering, alcoholism and alcohol-related illness climbed to new heights, all while Prohibition was still in effect (Thornton, â€Å"Failure† 70–71). The initial ideas of Prohibition was reversed. Crime was a problem during Prohibition. Since demand does not generally lower or at least not greatly alcohol continued to be traded even though laws exist to stop those kind of problems. The black market increased the crime rate related to the making and selling of alcohol. â€Å"Prohibition creates new profit opportunities for both criminals and non-criminals,† especially for those previously involved in criminal activities (Thornton, â€Å"Failure† 116–117).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During National Prohibition in the 1920’s and early 1930’s—crime rate continued to raise as less and less people were willing to quit drinking or to respect the ideas of prohibition, as shown by the raise in fines given for Prohibition violations through its time. Crime quickly became â€Å"organized† for the first time, running activities contrary to Prohibition on a never before seen scale (Thornton, â€Å"Failure† 70). In fact, by the end of Prohibition, speakeasies had actually outnumbered the saloons of pre-Prohibition years, spreading the influence of alcohol over a much wider range (Thornton, â€Å"Failure† 72). Alcohol prices rose greatly due to the troubles of making and selling a prohibited substance especially among the working classes, to steal alcohol or to steal other things which could then be sold to pay for alcohol.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Prohibition was first meant to stop the abuses thought to be from alcohol, main problem was crime. As more and more people began to ignore