Reconsidering whether Prohibition was a failure
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Re: Reconsidering whether Prohibition was a failure
#2Total prohibition is a failure; however, jurisdictions in which alcohol is more expensive and less convenient do experience lower rates of alcohol-related issues. I’m sorry I don’t have a citation for this.
Re: Reconsidering whether Prohibition was a failure
#3Interesting that the Alcohol lobby is only mentioned once and the big industry players not mentioned. Surely their actions were fundamental in orchestrating the pushback?
Considering the emergence of 'PR' during the same period, alcohol would have remained well supported.
Much as with drugs, total prohibition is not the answer for adult problems, but a balance of education, taxes and regulation should work to reduce the harm, particularly in home and public violence.
I only assume the industry players have been extremely successful in in-graining the attitude that alcohol is a God-given right and social necessity social harm be damned.
Re: Reconsidering whether Prohibition was a failure
#4Total prohibition is a failure; however, jurisdictions in which alcohol is more expensive and less convenient do experience lower rates of alcohol-related issues. I’m sorry I don’t have a citation for this.
Interesting to hear. I've heard the opposite in that in dry counties in the US the incidence of alcohol related driving accidents is 3x that of wet counties. A quick look at the Wikipedia[0] article corroborates this.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_county#Traveling_to_purcha...
Re: Reconsidering whether Prohibition was a failure
#5Total prohibition is a failure; however, jurisdictions in which alcohol is more expensive and less convenient do experience lower rates of alcohol-related issues. I’m sorry I don’t have a citation for this.
Interesting to hear. I've heard the opposite in that in dry counties in the US the incidence of alcohol related driving accidents is 3x that of wet counties. A quick look at the Wikipedia[0] article corroborates this. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_county#Traveling_to_purcha...
A lack of healthy drinking culture and social norms leads to extreme, dangerous behavior. The same can be said for other ills of our society.
Re: Reconsidering whether Prohibition was a failure
#6Alcohol taxes, proposals to imprison people for drinking (see the same author's article about said program in https://www.vox.com/2016/2/9/10955138/alcohol-247-sobriety-p...), all ways of spreading more suffering and incarceration among low income, vulnerable communities, while hardly affecting privileged communities at all. Alcoholism is a disease and should not be treated with incarceration.
Re: Reconsidering whether Prohibition was a failure
#7Are there statistics that compare other countries? I have found in my personal experience that countries that actually have lower minimum drinking ages seem to have better relationships with alcohol.
Attempting to artificially force age 21 as the limit is foolish, creates de-facto criminals, especially in universities, and forces adults who want to try drinking to have to hide it. This isn’t a sane policy.
Re: Reconsidering whether Prohibition was a failure
#8It's perceived as a failure because it was a failure.
If anything, the US is still too restrictive when it comes to alcohol policy. I hope we see the drinking age lowered back to 18, and remove most geographic and time restrictions on the purchase of alcohol. (i.e. Dry counties, purchasing on Sundays)
It's funny, I don't see too many people championing the war on drugs as a public policy success.
Re: Reconsidering whether Prohibition was a failure
#9Alcohol taxes, proposals to imprison people for drinking (see the same author's article about said program in https://www.vox.com/2016/2/9/10955138/alcohol-247-sobriety-p... ), all ways of spreading more suffering and incarceration among low income, vulnerable communities, while hardly affecting privileged communities at all. Alcoholism is a disease and should not be treated with incarceration.
> Alcoholism is a disease
While this is true, it’s also a disease that impacts certain communities and demographics differently than others. Its a disease which therefore can be mediated by changing social environment and norms. So while I also don’t support incarceration of alcoholics, it’s not unreasonable to consider legal and political interventions to improve public health.
Re: Reconsidering whether Prohibition was a failure
#10Alcohol taxes, proposals to imprison people for drinking (see the same author's article about said program in https://www.vox.com/2016/2/9/10955138/alcohol-247-sobriety-p... ), all ways of spreading more suffering and incarceration among low income, vulnerable communities, while hardly affecting privileged communities at all. Alcoholism is a disease and should not be treated with incarceration.
> Alcoholism is a disease While this is true, it’s also a disease that impacts certain communities and demographics differently than others. Its a disease which therefore can be mediated by changing social environment and norms. So while I also don’t support incarceration of alcoholics, it’s not unreasonable to consider legal and political interventions to improve public health.
Alcoholism can be a disease, but that involves a very different beast than what most people call alcoholism.
I'm not sure it is a helpful framing. I would certainly argue that the model promulgated by AA is very unhelpful, although it has polluted the popular consciousness heavily. In the USA at least. Other countries have more reasonable relationships with alcohol.