FREE ESSAY ON PROHIBITION - VOLSTEAD ACT OF 1919

PROHIBITION - VOLSTEAD ACT OF 1919

PROHIBITION 
The Volstead Act of 1919 was the law that made the sale of alcoholic beverages illegal, 
supporters of this act thought that this would make the country better as a whole. They
said this law would lower crime rates and would increase the health of Americans. This
law did the exact opposite of what they expected, overnight this law created a black
market that lead to the rise of organized crime. The health of people who drank alcoholic
beverages also decreased because there was no quality control in the illegal market.
Thousands of Americans were poisoned by the impurities of the illegal Alcohol.
These are just some of the reasons why I think that Prohibition was not the best law that
we could have come up with. The new laws on alcohol are much better because they do not
completely ban the sales of alcohol, they just limit who can buy it and when. This is
much better because the drinks are much safer, distilled properly and the percentage of
alcoholic contend is controlled. Another reason why this law was not reasonable is
because of the time period that it took place in, this was in the middle of the great
depression and there could have been many more jobs if they did not ban the sales of
alcohol. 
Prohibition was not a well thought out amendment and next time the people want to ban the
sales of something they should consider what will happen after they do. A couple of good
thing that ended up coming out of this was they set an age limit on the purchasing and
drinking of alcohol, which probably is safer than if they just let people of all ages do
it. They have also came up with many good laws for drinking and driving to make the roads
safer, and they are starting to make the laws more strict than they already are.
Prohibition did the exact opposite of what the people who supported it thought it would
do and that is why it only lasted from 1920-1933. This law manufactured bootleggers and
many organized crime groups. Although it was not a good law it was probably good in the
long run because maybe next time a group of people want to ban the sales of something
they will think of the consequences of what will happen if they do.