Prohibition In Mississippi Essay

866 Words4 Pages
The Impact of Prohibition on the State of Mississippi Prohibition is an often untold story in American History. It was overshadowed by the Great Depression and it lasted only 13 years. Prohibition was revoked on a national level in 1933, however Mississippi held onto Prohibition until 1966. Prohibition caused many of Mississippi’s current problems such as a low quality education and higher teen drinking rates. When Prohibition first came into effect, organized crime was on a decline. The days of robbing banks were over and most business was being taken over by legitimate enterprise. However, Prohibition gave organized crime a new industry, illegal alcohol. Organized crime worked in smuggling booze from Mexico, Cuba, and Canada. Most often,…show more content…
These range from both extremes, but most effects tend to be negative. Such as a rise in opium use and higher death rates for anyone who drank alcohol. The government poisoned industrial alcohol without telling the public leading to many deaths throughout the nation. The illegalization of alcohol led to people trying to make alcohol, but instead making poison. Prohibition also unwittingly gave rise to organized crime due to the vast amounts of money to be made bootlegging. Prohibition also influenced drinking after it was repealed. Prohibition encouraged drinking hard liquor as seen by the popularity of hard liquor post prohibition. Police were also affected by Prohibition. Police death rates spiked from a low of 32 deaths per year to a peak of 249 in 1930. The death rate was still only 75 in 1943 due to higher rates of organized crime. Prohibition still occurred in Mississippi and has had a resurgence due to the emergence of microbreweries in the 1980s. It has also been shown that preventative measures such as teen prevention and higher taxes do much more to curtail drinking than extreme measures such as Prohibition(Pearson 1-2). Everyone was affected by Prohibition whether or not you lived through it. It has left a mark on our traditions and habits and has shown us that extreme measures aren't always the right measures as shown by the effect of preventative measures enacted
Show More
Related

  • Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf Analysis

    4590 Words  | 19 Pages

    reality of infertility. In his play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Edward Albee utilizes dysfunctional couples in order to highlight the effect of disillusionment in the 1950s-1960s. Examining Edward Albee’s life presents information that shows how his experiences motivated the writing of his play. Albee was born Edward Harvey on March 12, 1928 in

    Read More

More about Prohibition In Mississippi Essay

Open Document