Why Prohibition Really Ended

A very interesting article about why Prohibition really ended. According to the article it wasn't that Prohibition was a bad idea - it was that the Depression crushed tax revenues and the government needed the money liquor taxes would bring.

There's no doubt that widespread understanding of Prohibition's futility and of its ugly, unintended side-effects made it easier for Congress to repeal the 18th Amendment. But these public sentiments were insufficient, by themselves, to end the war on alcohol.

Ending it required a gargantuan revenue shock -- to the U.S. Treasury.

Maybe the folks who want to legalize marijuana should earn a lesson from this and instead of trying to get marijuana legalized based upon the merits of doing so - they should start arguing about legalizing marijuana as a way to raise new revenues to help save Social Security.

HT NRO's Corner