Adumbration

I have a long standing interest in the subject of alcohol and drug prohibition;  this podcast episode (linked below) explores the notion of "bootleggers and baptists" in the direct relevance of the US "noble experiment" with alcohol prohibition. I found it difficult to locate completely clear-cut historical statistics.  Different sources agree that at the peak in 1830, the average American drank 7 gallons annually, the equivalent of 90 fifths of 80-proof liquor, nearly two bottles a week, per person over 15 (in 1845 that quantity had fallen 75%, and subsequent years have remained much lower, at least according to this, see also here).

At any rate, to say there was (and is) no problem with alcohol would be naive, and women faced particular challenges in this environment, having no legal or property rights to speak of (women's suffrage and Prohibition entered the Constitution within 1919-20).  Even so there was not the broad popular support that might be implied by passing a constitutional amendment, because legislatures at the time were disproportionately weighted to the rural areas rather than the cities, those rural populations being much more in favor of prohibition than were city dwellers.

In the run up to full prohibition were class-motivated restrictions on saloons that limited alcohol sales to restaurants and hotels - places that served food and had beds, which should not be surprising to find be shortly represented by saltines and prostitutes. ....  there is so much more to this story, but a broad reading boils down to how well meaning people who want to improve society through one or another political initiative, end up in alliance with others who see that initiative as a way to promote their individual financial interests, and who typically end up in control of the implementation of that policy.  Strange bedfellows, indeed.

Good historical perspective with recurring relevance, that also brings out the pietism and anti-catholic, anti-immigrant motivations of prohibition promoters.

In the context of this history with alcohol prohibition we have the recent situation with drug policy in Portugal, which in 2001 decriminalized all drug use and since experienced a significant reduction in drug abuse.  With only a few exceptions (e.g. Time in 2009, Reason in 2012), this result is completely ignored by US news media.

Prohibition and His Book, Last Call (6/7/2010) - Daniel Okent, author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, talks about how the 18th Amendment banning the manufacture, sale, and transport of intoxicating beverages came to pass in 1920, what life was like while it was in force, and how the Amendment came to be repealed in 1934. Okrent discusses how Prohibition became entangled with the suffrage movement, the establishment of the income tax, and anti-immigration sentiment. They also discuss the political economy of prohibition, enforcement, and repeal--the quintessential example of bootleggers and baptists.