As marijuana legalization is underway in America, there are a number of lessons that can be learned from the end of prohibition. Here are three of them:
(1) Prohibition Doesn't Prohibit
As we saw during prohibition, the demand to drink alcohol was still there—but it was simply just driven underground. What took over, of course, was a black market fueled by violence and bath tub gin.
(2) Don't Confuse Regulation with Control
After the end of prohibition, many states put a great deal of regulation in place to control alcohol. Even today, when you visit some microbreweries they can't even sell you a pint of their own beer.
(3) Put Consumers First
In many states like Pennsylvania and Virginia, consumers still have to go to these state-run, Soviet-like package stores that offer neither good prices nor good selection.
Let's hope with the legalization of marijuana that we learn the lessons from prohibition and not make the same mistakes with pot that we did with alcohol.
For more information on how not to legalize pot, check out Garrett Peck's article in Reason's latest issue
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Shot by Meredith Bragg. Edited by Amanda Winkler and Bragg.
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