The Failed War on Anabolic Steroids
by Josh Hodnik
The United States, being the responsible parent that they are, have made the decision on what drugs are safe enough for us to ingest and what are not. The first big fight in America’s war on drugs started with the Volstead Act and the Prohibition of alcohol. Now we all know how that worked out, it didn’t work out at all. Instead, bootleggers made money, and some got rich, making and distributing alcohol illegally throughout the country. The government spent loads of money to enforce Prohibition, only to fail. For every bootleg operation that law enforcement shutdown, there were nine more that went untouched. Not only did our country spend money fighting illegal alcohol production, it was no longer collecting taxes from alcohol sales. This caused a financial burden from two different dircetions. This did nothing to curb demand at all. Demand may have actually increased during the Prohibition. We are a society that wants what we can’t have, and this fact rang true even a hundred years ago.
With Prohibition most alcohol manufacturing and sales were channeled through the black market. With the black market consumer protection is non-existent, and there is potential for even greater health risks from alcohol when its obtained from a bootleg source. The black market is still a free market. The bad moonshiners and suppliers fade away, and the good ones grow. This would be the case in a perfect world, but this wasn’t so. Supplies used to make moonshine became highly regulated during Prohibition. When these ingredients became scarce, bootleggers would have to turn to various chemicals that could have severe health consequences, even death. While the government felt their fight against alcohol would increase the moral and health of the American people, it did quite the opposite. [READ FULL ARTICLE HERE]
by Josh Hodnik
The United States, being the responsible parent that they are, have made the decision on what drugs are safe enough for us to ingest and what are not. The first big fight in America’s war on drugs started with the Volstead Act and the Prohibition of alcohol. Now we all know how that worked out, it didn’t work out at all. Instead, bootleggers made money, and some got rich, making and distributing alcohol illegally throughout the country. The government spent loads of money to enforce Prohibition, only to fail. For every bootleg operation that law enforcement shutdown, there were nine more that went untouched. Not only did our country spend money fighting illegal alcohol production, it was no longer collecting taxes from alcohol sales. This caused a financial burden from two different dircetions. This did nothing to curb demand at all. Demand may have actually increased during the Prohibition. We are a society that wants what we can’t have, and this fact rang true even a hundred years ago.
With Prohibition most alcohol manufacturing and sales were channeled through the black market. With the black market consumer protection is non-existent, and there is potential for even greater health risks from alcohol when its obtained from a bootleg source. The black market is still a free market. The bad moonshiners and suppliers fade away, and the good ones grow. This would be the case in a perfect world, but this wasn’t so. Supplies used to make moonshine became highly regulated during Prohibition. When these ingredients became scarce, bootleggers would have to turn to various chemicals that could have severe health consequences, even death. While the government felt their fight against alcohol would increase the moral and health of the American people, it did quite the opposite. [READ FULL ARTICLE HERE]
