{"id":5544,"date":"2013-09-03T21:12:53","date_gmt":"2013-09-04T01:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=5544"},"modified":"2013-09-03T21:19:32","modified_gmt":"2013-09-04T01:19:32","slug":"prohibition-will-bring-both-law-legislature-and-executive-into-open-contempt-the-economist-22-september-1923-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/prohibition-will-bring-both-law-legislature-and-executive-into-open-contempt-the-economist-22-september-1923-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Prohibition will bring both law, legislature and executive into open contempt &#8211;The Economist 22 September 1923"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\r\nAlcohol Prohibition didn&#8217;t work.\r\nProhibition of marijuana and other drugs actually failed in much worse ways than alcohol prohibition did.\r\nI don&#8217;t always agree with The Economist, but about this I do:\r\nit&#8217;s time to end the failed War on Drugs and ramp down the\r\nexpensively bloated U.S. prison system.\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?fbid=10151827421964060&#038;set=a.10151827421769060.1073741840.6013004059&#038;type=3&#038;src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-prn2%2F1238710_10151827421964060_488639340_n.jpg&#038;size=704%2C960\">\r\nUncle Sam Will <em>Enforce<\/em> Prohibition<\/a>,\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?fbid=10151827421964060&#038;set=a.10151827421769060.1073741840.6013004059&#038;type=3&#038;src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-prn2%2F1238710_10151827421964060_488639340_n.jpg&#038;size=704%2C960\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;width:274px\" src=\"https:\/\/fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net\/hphotos-ak-prn2\/q74\/s720x720\/1238710_10151827421964060_488639340_n.jpg\"><\/a>\r\nOur September 22nd 1923 issue examined the impact of America&#8217;s\r\nexperiment with alcohol prohibition. The newspaper encourages a\r\nsimilarly liberal approach to drug control today.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nWe wrote: &ldquo;A law is not necessarily a good or wise law because\r\nit aims at doing something which is desirable. If it is impossible\r\nof strict administration, it will not only fail in its object, but,\r\nwhat is far more serious will bring both law, legislature and\r\nexecutive into open contempt.&rdquo;\r\n<\/p><!--more-->\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?fbid=10151827421964060&#038;set=a.10151827421769060.1073741840.6013004059&#038;type=3&#038;src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-prn2%2F1238710_10151827421964060_488639340_n.jpg&#038;size=704%2C960\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border:none;\" src=\"https:\/\/fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net\/hphotos-ak-prn2\/q74\/s720x720\/1238710_10151827421964060_488639340_n.jpg\"><\/a>\r\n<blockquote><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tlemea.com\/economist\/results-view.asp?searchText=%28%28section%20contains%20cover%29%29%20AND%20%28date%20contains%2022\/09\/1923%29&#038;searchDate=&#038;resperpage=10&#038;respage=0&#038;restotal=2&#038;sort=aFDATE&#038;resnumber=0&#038;DocId=226768&#038;Index=D%3a\\database\\userdata\\Econxml1&#038;HitCount=4&#038;hits=19+1a+1b+9f+&#038;sins=yes&#038;bhcp=1&#038;lzm=M45&#038;DPGV2=0008-0000\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;width:254px\" src=\"http:\/\/www.tlemea.com\/exe\/wwt.exe\/htt?fn=%5C%5Cfsprod.corp.web%5CEMEDVIprod%5CVault%5CEconomist%5Cjpg%5CReel1923%5Cecon-1923-0922-0008-0000.jpg&#038;zoom=45&#038;hits=&#038;col=&#038;type=j&#038;Quality=75\"><\/a>\r\nIt has admittedly failed to stop drinking.\r\nIt has decreased the regard in which the American constitution and American\r\nlaw are held abroad.\r\nIt has led withing the United States to open and widespread\r\ncontempt for and breach of law, which some critics have\r\neven described as the &#8220;beginning of Bolshevism.&#8221;\r\nIt has proved exceedingly undemocratic, since in effect\r\nit denies to the poor anything but the most horribly\r\ndebased and injurious forms of alcohol, but leaves more normal\r\nalcoholic beverages obtainable by those whose purses are better filled.\r\nIt has led to a very serious outbreak of corruption, smuggling,\r\nand profiteering.\r\nFinally, its application to foreign ships entering American harbours has\r\naroused diplomatic friction, and compelled the derisive notice of other\r\ncountries to the position into which the experiment has brought the\r\nUnited States.\r\nEven after making the most generous allowance for the advantages which may have\r\naccrued, this is a very formidable list of disadvantages,\r\nwhich those who would like to impose Prohibition in the United\r\nKingdom would do well to study.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\nSo by that list the War on Drugs is much worse, because it also\r\nhas produced a seven-fold increase in incarceration in the U.S. since 1980,\r\nand far higher than in 1923.\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>1923: about 148 (sentenced adults + juvenile detention) per 100,000 people; see page 210,\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncjrs.gov\/pdffiles1\/pr\/102529.pdf\">\r\nHistorical Corrections Statistics in the United States 1850-1984, U.S. DoJ, December 1986<\/a>.\r\n<li>2011: 492 sentenced per 100,000 in 2011; see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bjs.gov\/content\/pub\/pdf\/p11.pdf\">Prisoners in 2011<\/a>, U.S. DoJ, December 2012, which included this note:\r\n<blockquote>\r\n&#8220;Nearly half (48%) of inmates in federal prison\r\nwere serving time for drug offenses in 2011&#8221;\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>\r\nThe War on Drugs has greatly promoted militarization of police.\r\nIt has led to privatization of prisons.\r\nAnd money from not just drug smugglers but also from private prison\r\ncompanies and large weapons vendors has corrupted politics,\r\nmeshing with corruption fueled by the military-industrial complex.\r\n<p>\r\nOh, and I don&#8217;t know of any polls on this back in 1923,\r\nbut I&#8217;d wager that Congress is much less popular now than then,\r\nnot in small part because of that corruption.\r\nIn particular, Congress is now\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/contributed\/2013-07-14\/congress-less-popular-cockroaches-lice-root-canals-colonoscopies-genghis-khan\">\r\nless popular than the Communism those Bolsheviks promoted back in 1923<\/a>.\r\nSure, there are plenty of other reasons for Congress&#8217; current unpopularity,\r\nincluding bailing out banks but not mortgage holders or students,\r\nand endless warmongering with no stops on domestic spying,\r\nbut the failed War on Drugs has certainly contributed to contempt for Congress.\r\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tlemea.com\/economist\/results-view.asp?searchText=%28%28section%20contains%20cover%29%29%20AND%20%28date%20contains%2022\/09\/1923%29&#038;searchDate=&#038;resperpage=10&#038;respage=0&#038;restotal=2&#038;sort=aFDATE&#038;resnumber=0&#038;DocId=226768&#038;Index=D%3a\\database\\userdata\\Econxml1&#038;HitCount=4&#038;hits=19+1a+1b+9f+&#038;sins=yes&#038;bhcp=1&#038;lzm=M45&#038;DPGV2=0008-0000\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border:none;width:509px\" src=\"http:\/\/www.tlemea.com\/exe\/wwt.exe\/htt?fn=%5C%5Cfsprod.corp.web%5CEMEDVIprod%5CVault%5CEconomist%5Cjpg%5CReel1923%5Cecon-1923-0922-0008-0000.jpg&#038;zoom=45&#038;hits=&#038;col=&#038;type=j&#038;Quality=75\"><\/a>\r\n<p>\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alcohol Prohibition didn&#8217;t work. Prohibition of marijuana and other drugs actually failed in much worse ways than alcohol prohibition did. I don&#8217;t always agree with The Economist, but about this I do: it&#8217;s time to end the failed War on Drugs and ramp down the expensively bloated U.S. prison system. Uncle Sam Will Enforce Prohibition, [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[87,70,2,19,20,22],"tags":[8733,6924,6925,1153,8728,8701,8699,8709,8702,8710,12,7,8712,75,79,6923,6753,6,82],"class_list":["post-5544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alcohol","category-ethics","category-government","category-history","category-law","category-politics","tag-alcohol","tag-bolsheviks","tag-communism","tag-corruption","tag-ethics","tag-georgia","tag-government","tag-history","tag-lake","tag-law","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-politics","tag-prison","tag-prohibition","tag-smuggling","tag-the-economist","tag-valdosta","tag-war-on-drugs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-1rq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5544"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5552,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5544\/revisions\/5552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}