Prohibition in the United States (1920–1933) produced many outcomes reformers did not intend, including more crime, more dangerous alcohol, and significant social and economic disruption.
Rise of organized crime
- Banning legal alcohol created a huge black market that was quickly taken over by organized criminal groups such as urban gangs and syndicates.
- These groups ran bootlegging, smuggling, and speakeasies, using bribery and violence to protect their operations and greatly expanding the scale and sophistication of organized crime.
More dangerous alcohol and health harms
- With legal breweries and distilleries shut down, production shifted to unregulated “moonshine” and industrial alcohol that was often contaminated or deliberately denatured.
- Deaths from alcohol poisoning rose sharply in the 1920s, as people consumed stronger, poorly made liquor and adulterated industrial alcohol, undermining the public-health goals of Prohibition.
Strain on law, courts, and prisons
- Enforcing the alcohol ban flooded courts with prohibition-related cases and contributed to overcrowded jails and prisons.
- Widespread evasion of the law, along with selective and sometimes brutal enforcement, weakened respect for the legal system and encouraged everyday lawbreaking.
Corruption and loss of public trust
- The profits from illegal alcohol encouraged extensive bribery of police, judges, and politicians, leading to visible corruption at many levels of government.
- As many citizens continued drinking while officials looked the other way or took bribes, confidence in government integrity and in the legitimacy of the law declined.
Economic and social side effects
- Prohibition eliminated a major source of tax revenue from legal alcohol while governments spent heavily on enforcement, worsening fiscal pressures.
- Legal alcohol industries and related jobs were destroyed or pushed underground, while consumption shifted toward stronger spirits and, for some, toward other drugs such as narcotics and marijuana, which reformers had not intended to encourage.
