The prohibition of alcohol (1920 to 1933) proved a bad idea which did not stop people from making or drinking alcohol. After 13 years our forebears did the right thing and ended the noble experiment.

Perhaps the 18th Amendment was repealed because legislators reacted sanely to prohibition's unintended consequences: organized crime, an underground market with no tax revenue, death or blindness for many. Perhaps there was a far simpler reason: significant declines in federal income tax revenue during the Great Depression.

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