The slow death of prohibition

[Christel]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17291978

Did any of you FB'ers know this?
Certainly surprised me.

No alcohol...maybe that is why they have a different approach to firearms than the UK?

[Porcupine]

As you can see from the map, dry counties are rare and usually sparsely populated rural counties where you wouldn't find (m)any bars anyway - only 500 out of 18,000 municipalities. Possession and consumption are not illegal so it's just a case of driving to the next county over to get your booze (and I buy a lot online and have it delivered so it would be no issue if I lived in a dry county!). Alcoholism and drink driving are much bigger problems in the US than here. It really doesn't change much and I don't think it's had any effect on gun laws; when has drunkenness ever been used to justify gun control?

[ovenpaa]

I was surprised to read this as I had not realised some counties are still dry in the USofA. So bootlegging is alive and thriving in some areas then..

[Mike357]

I knew that parts of Alaska were dry but the rest is a surprise!

[Porcupine]

I was surprised to read this as I had not realised some counties are still dry in the USofA. So bootlegging is alive and thriving in some areas then..

By federal law, dry counties cannot stop liquor entering their counties so there is no such thing as bootlegging within the United States. You could, and people do, bootleg by bringing alcohol from outside of the US into the country but only in so far as avoiding taxes, there's nothing illegal about importing alcohol. A dry county just means businesses can't sell alcohol - alcohol can still pass through, be manufactured, and be brought in to the county for consumption from outside.

Here's a couple of examples of what life is like in America with regards alcohol. When I was at college, the nearest dry county was about an hour and a half drive away. If you lived in the center of that county, the nearest liquor store was about ten minutes drive away in the next county.

My place out west is 700 miles from the nearest dry county! The nearest liquor store from the center of that county is 35 minutes drive, in the next county over.

[Blackstuff]

I'm grateful for the American experiment with prohibition as it's a shining example of utter failure when it comes to 'banning' things that humans are determined to possess, whether it be drink, drugs or guns . . . . :roll: