Prohibition In 1920-1933 Prohibition of alcohol occurred. Known as the "noble experiment", it was sought to reduce drinking by doing away with the businesses that manufactured, distributed, and sold alcoholic beverages. It started because of crime and corruption, social problems, the prisons and poorhouses created a tax burden, and to improve the health and hygiene of Americans. Many leaders of our country also believed this and that's why it was put into affect. "The reign …showed first 75 words of 491 total…

…showed last 75 words of 491 total…requires only a tenth as much bootleg liquor as of pre-prohibition liquor to produce a given degree of drunkenness. The reason, of course, is that bootleg liquor is so concentrated and almost invariably contains other and more deadly poisons than mere ethyl alcohol." Drinking then also made people want to experiment with other drugs such as: opium, marijuana, patent medicines, cocaine, and other dangerous substances that they probably would have never even thought of doing.