After Prohibition, the number of “alcoholic prescriptions” for American doctors increased dramatically, and some pharmacies opened underground bars. In addition, many industrial pharmacists simply “lost” some of the alcohol that was then used to produce alcoholic beverages.
The underground liquor trade allowed many businessmen to make a large fortune.
One of the most famous bootleggers was the father of the future president of the United States, Joseph Kennedy. He imported large quantities of alcohol from Canada and sold them with the help of the mafia.
The future diplomat and financier worked with Frank Costello, Dutch Schultz, Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano and other American organized crime bosses. And some of the gangsters later characterized Kennedy as a crook.
Most of the bootleggers were gradually subsumed by organized crime groups. This allowed the Mafia to dramatically increase its profits and its influence on American society. The redistribution of the liquor market constantly escalated into criminal wars – even machine guns were fired in the streets of American cities.
The opposite effect
After the implementation of restrictive measures the consumption of alcohol in the U.S. has fallen by about half. The incidence of cirrhosis of the liver and other dangerous diseases associated with alcohol abuse fell by 50%. Americans have been less likely to skip work and less likely to commit offenses while intoxicated. However, as legislative loopholes were identified and bootlegging increased, the positive effects began to wane.
In addition, drug addiction rates in the United States rose sharply, and budget revenues, 14 percent of which before 1920 were generated by taxes related to the production or sale of alcohol, declined significantly.
“The fight against the illegal liquor trade has also become extremely costly. The number of controlling agencies, which had to organize costly patrols of the borders and sea shores, increased severalfold. According to some estimates, directly and indirectly fighting liquor trafficking ate up to 15 percent of the U.S. budget,” the expert said.
According to historian and publicist Armen Gasparyan, the Great Depression was one of the factors that led to the abandonment of Prohibition. “In the early 1930s, it was necessary to urgently increase the budget and reduce government spending. The authorities realized that they could not achieve victory in the fight against alcohol consumption, and soon the question of the abolition of the amendment became extremely relevant,” the historian stressed.
President Franklin Roosevelt, who came to power in the US in 1933, allowed beer and light wines to be produced in the US. And on December 5, 1933, the 21st amendment was made to the Constitution of the USA, which abolished the 18th amendment and the Prohibition Act. This was the only case in history of complete repeal of an earlier amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
At the same time, a number of states maintained a ban on the production and sale of alcohol for several more decades. Even today, in many U.S. counties the prohibition is still in effect. This is particularly true in parts of Utah, where a large percentage of the population is Mormon.