Some people who were already addicted to alcohol and could not afford the smuggled alcohol turned to dangerous drugs like opium, cocaine, and bhang among others (Freel 58). Through the alcohol prohibition act, an important source of government revenue was removed, and on the other hand, government spending shoots up. The negative effects of the act were far many than the positive ones. Instead of benefiting from the alcohol prohibition, the nation suffered greatly from loosing its people, experiencing high levels of crime and corruption and violation of authority among others.ĭuring this period, some of the strong supporters of prohibition like Rockefeller confessed that instead of the society’s morals to improve from this act, the overall condition of the nation is getting worse. The public officials were facilitators as they asked for bribes from the illegal alcohol traders.Īccording to the public officers, they wanted the prohibition period to last forever, and continue taking the advantage of the situation as the level of crime went up. The level of corruption was very high during this period than any other. Some of the prohibitionists claim that the users of such kind of alcohol deserved that king of punishment and people continued loosing their lives. Things became worse when increased death rates were realized in the United States because of this alcohol without the prohibitionist taking any action (Albanese 316).
This denatured alcohol had some serious impacts on the users’ bodies like causing paralysis to major parts like hands and legs. During this period, the smuggled alcohol became too expensive such that some people would not afford it, and hence relied on the denatured alcohol. Immediately after the National Prohibition Act came into practice, an illegal system of criminals began its actions, whereby some of them made millions and millions of us dollars by transporting alcohol illegally. Much of the alcohol that was on sale in the United States was from Canada, and the vendors used to sell it in private bars (Spiller 98). The sale of alcohol was illegal in the United States, although in some places the alcohol beverage was still on sale especially the underground places where security would struggle to find them. The United States prohibition act came into being through the eighteenth Amendment, where the police received the authority to enforce the law. The money they received from this illegal business funded this group to continue with their other organized crimes like prostitution, trafficking drugs, and other immoral activities. This group used to bribe the public officials for their entry into the United States with illegal alcohol. They made a lot of money out of the illegal smuggling of alcohol, which was an indication of an act to benefit the organized criminals. They discovered that the alcohol was scarce in United States and so decided to supply the citizens with alcohol illegally. They deal with all illegal acts like drug and weapon smuggling, murder, and frauds among other disgusting activities (Thornton 114).ĭuring this period of alcohol prohibition there were widely involved in smuggling alcoholic drinks into the country to the capable and interested buyers. They operate in various nations including the United States and Canada. This is a big group of organized criminals from various ethnic groups. The effect of alcohol prohibition act gave the Mafia group an opportunity of exercising their criminal acts. The high level of organized crimes, made the court and the prisons working system overworked making the police and the public officials to practice corruption. The tax rate was too high although there was need for the government to collect money for supporting prisons, reconstructing poor houses, and to concentrate on the high risk areas where health and hygiene were at stake (Goldberg 214).Īs much as the government was in effort of prohibition, the consumption of alcohol became relatively high resulting to organized crimes.
This action of prohibition came because of realized rate of crimes and corruption among the top people, high levels of social conflicts, and increased taxes.
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