Prohibition in America and Why it Failed
To understand why prohibition failed, one must understand what it was meant to accomplish. Prohibition was not a plan to rid the United States of alcohol, but rather a movement to reform what was seen as a gradual moral decline of the country as a whole. The temperance movement had been alive and well in the U.S. from the days of the firsts American Colonies. Even the Puritans drank alcohol, considering it to be necessary to life, and not only in a medicinal manner. But alcohol was believed to be something that should only be used in moderation, and anyone who was felt to drink too much was considered to be morally corrupt and usually became an outcast in their community for their moral failing. The earliest laws surrounding the use and sale of alcohol were meant to control the use of liquor, but as rules and feelings about any use of liquor became more and more stringent, the country saw the establishment of illegal drinking parlors called "speakeasies" where people could drink to their fill. Prohibition eventually failed because one cannot legislate morality.
The use of some drugs today may be better dealt with if they were legalized rather than criminalized. It is not possible, nor is it the purpose of our government to legislate morality. If a person chooses to drink or use drugs to excess, no law is going to stop them. This means that in many cases, individuals who truly have addiction problems with drugs are seen as "criminals" alone, and are not provided with treatment programs which might help them get on with their lives.
It is my belief that someday at least marijuana, which can also be used for several very good medicinal purposes, such as pain relief and appetite stimulation, will be decriminalized. This will of course mean that some will abuse it, become addicted to it, and misuse it. But these individuals will then be able to be involved in treatment programs rather than in jail. And since the rate of recidivism in drug users coming out of jail is quite high, it can obviously be no worse than what we are doing today.
