• PROHIBITION of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, refers to a sumptuary law which prohibits alcohol. Typically, the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages is restricted or illegal

Prohibition became law through the Eighteenth Amendmentto the U.S. Constitution in January 1919. It was enforcedthrough the Volstead Act of the same year. Prohibition madethe sale, transport, and manufacture of alcoholic drinks illegal.It was backed by the Prohibitionist Party and by reformers suchas ministers, doctors, and the Women’s Christian TemperanceUnion. The ban lasted from 1919 to 1933 and was an attemptto control moral behavior.

Unfortunately, Prohibition had the opposite effect. Prohibition made drinking fashionable and exciting. Illegal bars known as "speakeasies" sprang up and

the bootleggers—makers and suppliers of illegal alcohol—became heroes. Gangsters made fortunes

from making and importing alcohol. During Prohibition, the penalty for selling just one drink was five years in jail. Before long, the prisons could not

cope with the influx of inmates. Prohibition made the public lose respect for lawmakers and politicians. The Eighteenth Amendment was repealed in December

1933. It remains the only repealed amendment in the history of the Constitution.