Get Active Subscribe Support Us

PROHIBITION LESSONS GO UNLEARNED

I'm writing about Michael Armstrong's story: "Death leads Homer to face meth issue" ( 3-23-06 ).

During the 1960s I worked for the federal government, and several of my co-workers used amphetamines known as "mini-bennies" or "whites." When these products were taken off the market and made illegal, the meth of today was reborn.

Today's meth labs are very similar to the illegal distilleries of the era known as the "Noble Experiment." During our alcohol-prohibition era, thousands died and thousands went blind or were crippled for life from what was then known as "bathtub gin."

Like the meth of today, the 'bathtub gin" was easily made from household or industrial products.  Like the meth of today, the "bathtub gin" was a product created by prohibition.  Like the meth of today, illegal alcohol could be manufactured just about anywhere.  Like the meth of today, Prohibition-era alcohol was of unknown quality, unknown purity and unknown potency.

When alcohol prohibition ended in 1933, almost 100 percent of the "bathtub gin" producers went out of business for economic reasons and they have stayed out of the business for economic reasons.  When alcohol prohibition ended in 1933, our overall crime rate declined substantially and our murder rate declined for 10 consecutive years.

Have we learned any lessons? Not yet.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.