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Prohibition pays

Introduction

Prohibition pays

Equality bombshell

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Crime scene reconstruction
(James Meaneaux Stenson)

Wartime created conditions for crime of all kinds. Food rationing and clothing coupons meant there was money to be made on the black market. An influx of new products from US GIs, such as nylons, created an added eagerness.

A famous precedent of restriction fuelling illicit sales also came from the US – the prohibition of alcohol, dating from 1919, when the 18^th Amendment was ratified.

The puritanical ingredient in the cocktail that was American culture gained dominance, determined to halt what it saw as excessive and immoral drinking in the social hangover induced by the First World War.

Drinking simply went underground, handing power to the gangsters who controlled many of the illegal drinking joints – speakeasies. The absurdity was further underlined when leading members of the establishment became regulars at some speakeasies.

These draconian restrictions created a torrent of income for ruthless mobsters, such as Al Capone, whose wealth was estimated to be $100 million. As their wealth increased, so did their power.

Prohibition also increased the consumption of a more concentrated form of drink – spirits. This was for the simple practical reason that it is easier to shift.

Today, many people are drawing similar conclusions about drugs laws, particularly with softer drugs such as cannabis.

Even British Home Secretary David Blunkett recently hinted that the Government may be taking a more tolerant attitude, so that dealers in class A drugs can be targeted. He backed an experiment in Lambeth, London, where police commander Brian Paddick has proposed that people in possession of small amounts of cannabis should be warned rather than arrested and cautioned.

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