Back in January of 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of states.
Authored by U.S. Sen. Morris Sheppard of Texarkana, a lifelong temperance advocate, the amendment banned the manufacture, sale or transportation of alcoholic beverages in this country and its territories.
The ban had come after a long struggle that united religious and anti-immigrant forces. Both saw alcohol as an evil, though for different reasons.
It would go into effect a year later, in 1920. But there was a problem — there was now way to enforce the law.
The Eighteenth Amendment made booze illegal, but left it up to Congress to pass additional legislation to make the ban a reality.
The result was the National Prohibition Act — popularly known as the Volstead Act for the lawmaker who guided the legislation through the U.S. House of Representatives.
Although the act did not prohibit actual consumption of alcohol, it gave federal authorities control over any beverage with more than 0.5 percent alcohol and the power to arrest and prosecute those who illegally trafficked in such goods. It also provided a few exceptions, allowing alcohol for medicinal purposes with a doctor’s prescription.
Both the House and Senate approved the Volstead Act. But President Woodrow Wilson vetoed. Congress voted to override and the Volstead Act was enacted Oct. 28, 1919 — 103 years ago this month.
The Noble Experiment, as it was called, lasted 13 years and gave birth to a spirit of lawlessness among otherwise law-abiding citizens and laid the groundwork for the organized crime problem that plagues our country to this very day.
Prohibition was eventually repealed. And now it’s largely regarded as failure and an example of government overreach.
Fast forward and some say the same thing about currents laws against marijuana. We disagree. But on election day we’ll see how Arkansas voters feel when they cast their ballots for or against the legalization of recreational marijuana.
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