[DogByte6RER]

Yikes! The ghost of the original battleaxe, Carrie Nation, lives on!

Bio - Standing at nearly 6 feet tall and weighing 180 pounds, Carry Amelia Moore Nation, Carrie Nation, as she came to be known, cut an imposing figure. Wielding a hatchet, she was downright frightful. In 1900, the target of Nation's wrath was alcoholic drink. Between 1900 and 1910 she was arrested some 30 times after leading her followers in the destruction of one water hole after another with cries of "Smash, ladies, smash!"

[DogByte6RER]

Ping

(I hate to say it, but I think I may avoid some of these highlighted red state areas on this map.)

[Gluteus Maximus]

Today, however, it seems like the only real benefit to prohibition is the sense of moral superiority that it instills in those who support it

The same will be said of the current drug prohibition. It fuels organized crime to the point that entire continents are destabilized, it finances terrorism, and all for nothing as it doesn't stop addicts from spending their last dime on their drug of choice. Prohibition is utterly counterproductive.

[bigbob]

That red splotch in South Dakota is the Pine Ridge Reservation, where the ban on alcohol is moot since the unincorporated White Clay, Nebraska (pop 14) lies 2 miles south, and sells over 5 million cans of beer each year. Go figure.

[hinckley buzzard]

I grew up in a dry township in Ohio. No alcohol was sold or served, anywhere. Of course every main highway in and out of town had taverns right at the township line...

[pepsionice]

There is a lot of history here. If you went back to 1888...the vast majority of men in America were consuming a fair amount of booze on a daily basis. Wives were buying the medicinal bottles loaded with alcohol and narcotics. We were a vast society consumed with ease of purchase and acceptance by society.

So this clean-up period in the 1900’s did some good. It made everyone stand back and reflect on what we were doing. But I’d admit that any county that remains dry today....is losing millions on tax revenue to surrounding counties that accept liquor sales. I grew up in a dry county, which still remains dry today. They’ve lost at least $50 million over the past thirty years since I left the county as a kid....which went to their neighbors instead.

[Vince Ferrer]

Odd that the whiskey producing region is moist or dry.

I went to college in a city that was dry long after prohibition. One of its suburbs, a small town only a few blocks long was just across the street. To this day that suburb is composed entirely of bars.

[shatcher]

Last night a new episode of “Who Do You Think You Are?” was on NBC. It featured the ancestors of actress Helen Hunt. At first the actress was disturbed that her great-great-grandmother lead the fight for prohibition in Maine. Once she was enlightened about the issue, her opinion changed. During that time frame, there were more alcoholics per ca pita that at any other time in our nations history, even among children. According to the program, the people who bore the brunt of widespread alcoholism were women who were physically and sexually abused. So, until I look into the issue further, I will withhold my judgment.

[bigbob]

Incidentally, Kansas (home of Carrie Nation) still hasn’t ratified the 21st Amendment, and continues to have some of the screwiest alcohol laws in the country.

[blueunicorn6]

She doesn’t look like Whitney Houston.

[Vince Ferrer]

Any study like this should also include MADD laws, since there are other means to prohibition.

[KoRn]

If I would have saw that hateful old bitch coming into my business, I might have cut her in half with a shotgun. (the bouncer sure as hell wouldn’t be able to handle her lol)

[SamAdams76]

Has anybody noticed that Carrie Nation looks like Barney Frank in drag?

[SamAdams76]

Has anybody noticed that Carrie Nation looks like Barney Frank in drag?

[GunRunner]

The churches still dictate local laws in some of these parts. Saving us from ourselves I suppose.

[GunRunner]

Why is Utah not highlighted anywhere? I was up there snowboarding once and my buddy and I couldn’t find a bar or any place that sold liquor anywhere near Orem or Provo.

[hinckley buzzard]

Alcohol consumption remained rampant

Just for accurate history's sake, this is a misleading statement. Alcohol consumption plummeted; all over the country, drying out places closed for lack of business. Liver disease fell.

Whether these were worth the black market that sprang up is a judgement call.

But Prohibition proved one thing very clearly: If you pass a law to control a certain behavior, most law-abiding citizens will respect the law and not do it.(That's what "law abiding" means, after all). When Prohibition was repealed consumption returned to former levels.

The facts suggest that legalizing marijuana will result in a significant rise in consumption as the law abiding people who eschew it now would feel free to indulge. Something to consider for the implications.

BTW America has a history of such laws going back to colonial times. Prohibition was in the grand tradition of "sumptuary laws" carried over from England, and which sought to enforce morality in all sorts of ways. Like Prohibition they were inconsistent, often repealed after elections, with little effect in the long run.

[cripplecreek]

I wouldn’t exactly call it prohibition here in Michigan. 5 hours per day you can’t buy alcohol is no big deal. (2AM to 7AM) Just buy what you need before 2AM.

An old girl who has been running one local party store since 1938 won’t sell till 5PM on Sundays.

[Longbow1969]

These Are The Places In America Where Alcohol Is Still Banned

Probably not a coincidence that these are areas Rick Santorum seems to do best.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Binge drinking fuelling liver deaths in UK

[RightGeek]

The map needs more work. North Carolina allows local governments to permit liquor by the drink (many do) and operate municipal liquor stores for hard liquor (most do). Ok, it's marked yellow.

But Minnesota has a similar local option for towns to operate liquor stores and even bars (e.g. http://www.cityofsavage.com/how-it-started ) and Minnesota is all blue.