From Prohibition to Regulation: Lessons from Alcohol Policy for Drug Policy

From Prohibition to Regulation: Lessons from Alcohol Policy for Drug Policy HARRY G. LEVINE and CRAIG REINARM AN Queens College, City University o f New York; University o f California, Santa Cruz M ore than five years after it was launched , America’s latest war on drugs has given rise to a chorus of questions about its efficacy and its problematic side effects. Policy makers, journalists, and the general public have increasingly looked to alternatives to drug prohibition such as decriminalization and public health approaches. People have also been drawn to the history of America’s experiences with alcohol prohibition and regulation. In this article we review some major questions about the rise, fall, and effects of alcohol prohibition, and we examine the logic, rationale, and organization of alcohol regulation following its prohibition. We fo- cus on lessons from alcohol prohibition that might be useful for under- standing drug prohibition, and on various principles governing alcohol regulation that might apply to drug regulation. In the final section we try to assess the prospects for radical drug law reform by comparing cur- rent conditions with those prevailing at the time alcohol prohibition was repealed. Historical analogies cannot, of course, provide simple and straight- forward answers to the complex drug policy questions now confronting Americans. Closer attention to the story of alcohol prohibition and reg- The Milbank Quarterly, Vol. 69, No. 3, 1991 © 1992 Milbank Memorial Fund 461

From Prohibition to Regulation: Lessons from Alcohol Policy for Drug Policy

Documents

drug policy

drug prohibition

drug control

drug

drug law

law

drug prevention

alcohol policy