American Prohibition In The 1920s

Humans have consumed alcohol since the beginning of written history, and this history had not been forgotten in modern day society. People study history for many reasons, but one of the main reasons is so that humans can learn from the mistakes that people have made in the past, especially mistakes that affect entire societies. Scholars and politicians use history to make better and more educated decisions on policies and laws that affect today’s society. One of these mistakes that is intensely studied and compared to modern day issues is American prohibition in the 1920s. Prohibition in the United States was clearly a big mistake looking back on it, but at the time, it seemed like a very logical answer to the problem. It seemed like the only
Those who are against prohibition believe that every person should have the right to indulge in alcohol if they decide to. This group believes it is their constitutional right to eat and drink what and however much they please, and these people tend to enjoy alcohol themselves. On the other hand, people that are in favor of prohibition focus on the dangerous effects of drinking, mostly excessive drinking. Excessive drinking can destroy lives and cause death and misery. There are many negative effects that come with alcohol abuse such as addiction and suffering, but prohibition, as history has proven, is not the answer to fix these serious problems. History has exemplified how liquor and alcohol bans are ineffective and even counterproductive, especially as seen during the prohibition era in the United States. Alcohol just plays too big of a role in society. It creates a tremendous amount of money for the governments and thousands of jobs for people all over the world. It is a part of peoples’ religious traditions and an escape route from the hardships of life for others. United States prohibition has not been the only failed attempt of an alcohol prohibition. Prohibition can be seen and studied in societies all across the world. A very creative form of alcohol prohibition was the Bratt System that was created in Sweden and established in 1922. The Bratt System gave every Swedish citizen a booklet that would have to get stamped every time one purchased alcohol. Each citizen could purchase a certain amount of alcohol per month and no more (120). This was a very clever and new form of prohibition that seemed to work well at first, but liquor desperate and clever Swedish citizens soon found out a way to beat the system. Obviously not everybody in Sweden drinks, so people started using their friends and family members books which ultimately led to the demise of this system. People find a way to get the alcohol they