In “County recalls the end of Prohibition”, the Intelligencer Journal / New Era recalls “It was Prohibition, a 13-year experiment in regulating the nation’s morals, which ended 75 years ago Friday, leaving a legacy of violence and bloodshed.”
WATCHDOG: It is an informative and fun look at Lancaster’s past that merits reading.
Today a large portion of the population fails to make the connection between failed alcohol prohibition and our current prohibition against marijuana, a far less dangerous drug.
If, through the same approach of local option, we regulated and controlled marijuana as we do alcohol, we could raise much tax revenue, reduce incarceration rates by about half of a million, and free up ample funds for the prevention and treatment of drug dependency and addiction.
Incidentally, it was not illegal to consume alcoholic beverages during prohibition; only to sell them. So alcohol prohibition was not a means for massive incarceration of minorities.
Full disclosure: Our publisher is the co-founder of Common Sense for Drug Policy (www.csdp.org).
