Positive Effects Of Prohibition Essay

The 18th Amendment, otherwise known as prohibition, was a period of time in United States history, which prohibited the manufacture, distribution, sale, and transportation of alcoholic liquors. Throughout the turn of the 20th century, people were concerned about the negative effects of alcohol. Companies felt that sobriety would increase the production of its workers, while progressives suggested social reform through prohibition since people viewed alcohol as the root of all issues. This political move by leaders of the Temperance Movement suggested that by making alcohol illegal, they expected to see a decline in the death rate of alcoholism, domestic violent crimes, and other alcohol related crimes. Also, they expected people to purchase healthier food instead of alcohol, which in turn, people would become lead healthier lives, and they would start depositing their money into savings accounts. ---- Despite the early expectations from the …show more content…
The qausi-success of prohibition, can be simply dismissed on the premise of basic economics. Any time a “product [is intentionally] made more difficult to supply it will [naturally] increase in price, and the quantity consumed will be less than it would be otherwise” (Thornton). As a result, people will be forced to reduce their consumption of alcohol due to the lack of availability. Furthermore, by restricting the supply of the prohibited substance caused a secondary effect that increased the demand for the illegal substance. The Iron Law of Prohibition indicates that “when drugs or alcoholic beverages are prohibited, they will become more potent [and vary in purity],” (Thornton) due to the in-doctoring of unknown or dangerous substances not regulated by normal market constraint. This shift towards