What was the effect of alcohol prohibition on America?

Prohibition was a major event in the US occurring in 1919. The Eighteenth Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale and transportation of intoxicating beverages, However, it did not outlaw the possession or consumption of alcohol. Bearing in mind that males aged 18-25 would likely be the main risk category, most of this age group had been touched by WW1 and a significant proportion of these may have been traumatised.

Turning to alcohol to suppress distressing images could be predicted. The amendment became the law of the land. The effects? In the first year after this became law, the number of crimes committed in 30 major cities in the U.S. increased by 24%. A similar increase occurred for arrests for drunkenness and disorderly conduct. Arrests for drunken driving jumped by 81%. The latter particularly was a severely negative outcome of prohibition.

The prohibition may have contributed to do more harm than good at that time. Americans just love to drink and some of them crave for it whenever they can. This has made people want to get alcohol even through illegal ways. Take note that even though the manufacturing, selling, and transportation of alcohol was considered to be illegal, it was not illegal to consume alcohol whenever people wanted to.

This means that those who are already drinking alcohol cannot be questioned because they will not say where they have gotten the beverage. This experiment was done in order to lessen crime and disruption but it may only have ended up doing more because people would do a lot of things for their dose of alcohol.