History Lesson

Today is the 75th anniversary of the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, in 1933.
The Twenty-first Amendment explicitly gives states the right to restrict or ban the purchase or sale of alcohol thus the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment otherwise know as "Prohibition." After the repeal of the national constitutional amendment, some states continued to enforce prohibition laws. Mississippi, which had made alcohol illegal in 1907, was the last state to repeal Prohibition, in 1966. Kansas did not allow sale of liquor "by the drink" (on-premises) until 1987. There are numerous "dry" counties or towns where no liquor is sold, even though liquor can often be brought in for private consumption.

I know parts of Missouri and Alaska are "dry" still. Where Deb lives in New Jersey-I think you can buy in in grocery/liquor stores but can't buy at restaurants-you have to bring it in with you. In Minnesota, I see "On/Off" signs and don't know really what that means but is different than here in ole Iowa where I'm surprised alcohol isn't in vending machines yet. I do remember the day, however, when you couldn't buy alcohol on Sundays.

Many social problems have been attributed to the Prohibition era. A profitable, often violent, black market for alcohol flourished. Racketeering happened when powerful gangs corrupted law enforcement agencies. Stronger liquor surged in popularity because its potency made it more profitable to smuggle. The cost of enforcing Prohibition was high, and the lack of tax revenues on alcohol (some $500 million annually nationwide) affected government coffers. When repeal of Prohibition occurred in 1933, organized crime lost nearly all of its black market alcohol profits in most states (states still had the right to enforce their own laws concerning alcohol consumption), because of competition with low-priced alcohol sales at legal liquor stores.

I'm not an advocate for or against but it really makes you wonder what would happen if the drug laws were different...