We all know that prohibition was present in the 1920’s and that it didn’t completely stop people from consuming alcohol. Bootleggers simply took over and distributed alcohol themselves. Prohibition did however make the consumption of alcohol more dangerous and it led to more crime and the creation of many gangs. These gangs started bootlegging alcohol and sold it to people illegally. The government started targeting bootleggers to fix the problem, but that didn’t work either. Alcohol is used for many other things than just drinking, like medicine, perfume, and many other things. Because of this, the government needed to keep supply of it up while decreasing the demand for it. Bootleggers usually got their alcohol from smuggling it across borders, or by repurposing industrial alcohol, alcohol not made for consumption. Since they needed to decrease the demand for alcohol, they needed to make it less desirable. They then decided to poison the industrial alcohol by adding poisonous chemical additives like methanol to the alcohol because they knew that it would be illegally repurposed for drinking. The alcohol was very toxic and had side effects like blindness, dementia, and eventually death. On the 25th of December, 1926 in New York a man ran into an ER screaming that santa clause was chasing him with a bat, and he died shortly after. 65 similar deaths occured in NY the same day, and the medical examiner determined that all of them were due to chemical additives in alcohol. It is believed that the poisoning of alcohol by the government is responsible for a minimum of 10,000 deaths.
What do you think about the prohibition as a whole?
What do you think about the government's poisoning of alcohol?
https://www.smithsonianchannel.com/video/series/drinks-crime-and-prohibition/61606
Replies
Well done Theresa! +10
I completely agree. Alcohol did and still does cause problems, but the prohibition wasn't a good way of fixing it. I just think that the government exists to serve the people, so they shouldn't do something that would cause this big of a loss of life.
I honestly think it's kinda crazy that they actually poisoned the alcohol. They had to know that if people would drink it then they would die. So they are really comminting murder is some peoples eyes. But also if the government did send out warnings then I could see why they would do it.
I agree. I have never heard about it until recently and I was shocked that it happened. And I agree that it would be not as bad if they warned the people that some alcohol was poisoned, but I don't think they did, but I think that poisoning it and then having it get into the hands of thousands of unknowing people is messed up.
I think that prohibition was a good idea but it failed because people would steal and it led to more crime and harm then it led to good. I think that the poisoning of achohol was also a good idea to support prohibition but it also failed and caused more harm then good.
I agree that it was a good idea but it unfortunately didn't work out. It just created the crime of trafficking alcohol and didn't stop people from actually consuming it. I don't think that the poisoning was a good idea becuase the government is there to help and serve the people and killing 10,000 people doesn't help.
I think that the prohibition was a good idea that simply did not work out very well. I think it drove people to commit more crimes than their was in the first place. I think that if the government poisoned alcohol they should be in some type of trouble for doing that.
I agree. It did make people commit more crimes and it created the crime of distributing alcohol. It didn't stop people consuming alcohol it just made it more dangerous and illegal. I agree that there should have been some sort of consequenses for the government but I guess the time has passed and there's nothing to do now, but killing 10,000 of your own people isn't ok.
I have done a project over prohibition before, I think there were a lot of super positive things taht came out of it, less drunken violence and fathers and husbands being more present in the home. I don't think poising the alcohol was that bad of an idea, I think it was a good way if they wanted to truly get rid of all of the alcohol and to be sure nobody got their hands on it and drank it.
I think that the prohibiotion was set up with good intentions, but it didn't work out. Gangs ended up providing it and the consumption of it was just more dangerous. I disagree with poisioning it becuase the whole purpose was to improve health and save lives and poisioning 10,000 people didn't help to acheive that goal.
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