# Prohibition
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [September 7, 2016, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266 "2016-09-07T14:12:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Vicsage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicsage)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/1 "2016-09-07T14:12:26Z")
As I’ve recently learned in another post, people should be forced to do things if there is a large benefit to society and to yours and other peoples health. So we should bring back prohibition. According to the CDC (LA Times March 13th, 2014 article) Alcohol use is responsible for 88,000 deaths a year. This does not include injuries from drunk drivers, domestic abuse, sexual assaults, or ruined lives for the drinker and his family, including his children, the weakest and most vulnerable among us. Since this activity (drinking) inflicts much more harm then any benefit, not just to the drinker but others, the people who support drinking are obviously ignorant of the facts and need to be convinced to ban it. At the very least they should be shamed and ridiculed into silence. To be fair, there is some scientific evidence that light drinking (wine seems best) may result in less heart disease, but this small benefit no way makes up for the destructiveness of allowing drinking for the general public. If a Doctor believes it would be useful for his patient, he could always write an Rx for it, with strict monitoring.
Post coming soon: Why we should ban eating meat for the good of society.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/2 "2016-09-07T14:15:40Z")
When you’re not good at satire, it’s helpful to provide some context so people know what you’re on about. You are not good at satire.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/3 "2016-09-07T14:16:59Z")
Lemme guess: Anti-vax rant?
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### Author:  [@Vicsage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicsage)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/4 "2016-09-07T14:31:17Z")
The typical forum response. Ignore the facts presented , attack the poster and his motivations.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/5 "2016-09-07T14:34:15Z")
We should ban meat eating for the good of society.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/6 "2016-09-07T14:34:18Z")
> [@Vicsage](#):
>
> The typical forum response. Ignore the facts presented , attack the poster and his motivations.
Typical **Vicsage** response. Inability to get to the point mixed with taking other people’s points to a ridiculous extreme.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/7 "2016-09-07T14:35:19Z")
> [@Vicsage](#):
>
> The typical forum response. Ignore the facts presented , attack the poster and his motivations.
So…what is your “motivation”?
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/8 "2016-09-07T14:40:43Z")
> [@Vicsage](#):
>
> As I’ve recently learned in another post, people should be forced to do things if there is a large benefit to society and to yours and other peoples health. So we should bring back prohibition.
While Prohibition did reduce drinking and it’s evil side effects, there were other consequences which were in the end judged to be more harmful than legalized drinking of alcohol. This is called “learning from experience” which some people are determined not to do.
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### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/9 "2016-09-07T14:52:12Z")
> [@Vicsage](#):
>
> The typical forum response. Ignore the facts presented , attack the poster and his motivations.
Vaccines are a different issue, unless you want to gets us back to the prohibition era of the 20s, when people still had no access to many vaccines and many did die of what it can be prevented now.
[https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00056803.htm](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00056803.htm)
> [@](#):
>
> At the beginning of the 20th century, infectious diseases were widely prevalent in the United States and exacted an enormous toll on the population. For example, in 1900, 21,064 smallpox cases were reported, and 894 patients died (1). In 1920, 469,924 measles cases were reported, and 7575 patients died; 147,991 diphtheria cases were reported, and 13,170 patients died. In 1922, 107,473 pertussis cases were reported, and 5099 patients died (2,3).
>
> In 1900, few effective treatment and preventive measures existed to prevent infectious diseases. Although the first vaccine against smallpox was developed in 1796, greater than 100 years later its use had not been widespread enough to fully control the disease (4). Four other vaccines – against rabies, typhoid, cholera, and plague – had been developed late in the 19th century but were not used widely by 1900.
>
> Since 1900, vaccines have been developed or licensed against 21 other diseases (5) (Table\_1). Ten of these vaccines have been recommended for use only in selected populations at high risk because of area of residence, age, medical condition, or risk behaviors. The other 11 have been recommended for use in all U.S. children (6).
>
> During the 20th century, substantial achievements have been made in the control of many vaccine-preventable diseases. This report documents the decline in morbidity from nine vaccine-preventable diseases and their complications – smallpox, along with the eight diseases for which vaccines had been recommended for universal use in children as of 1990 (Table\_2). Four of these diseases are detailed: smallpox has been eradicated, poliomyelitis caused by wild-type viruses has been eliminated, and measles and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) invasive disease among children aged less than 5 years have been reduced to record low numbers of cases.
As it turns out I know history, and I usually do look first at the flaws in the argument presented, your facts are misleading by omitting a lot of the context and your past posting shows that you did so on purpose.
So after looking first at your facts it has to be pointed not that you are just an ignoramus. Prohibition was repealed because it was already tried, it was dismissed because it caused much more trouble and death than their well meaning proponents thought it would do.
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### Author:  [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/10 "2016-09-07T14:52:46Z")
> [@Vicsage](#):
>
> As I’ve recently learned in another post, people should be forced to do things if there is a large benefit to society and to yours and other peoples health.
I disagree with this. For example, I enjoy firing my submachine gun into large crowds of people. Sure, making me stop would provide a large benefit to society, but what about \*my \*rights?
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### Author:  [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/11 "2016-09-07T14:56:34Z")
The casual acceptance of problems stemming from alcohol abuse is indeed troubling. I think our culture’s attitude is slowly improving though. Generations ago, the town drunk was seen as an endearing clown, today they’d be seen as dangerous and pathetic. Still, there’s a lot of work to do.
I’m guessing, though, that this thread isn’t really about alcohol, but about vaccines. Here’s the difference: when it comes to alcohol, I can choose to drink too much, or to not drink at all. I can’t choose whether I get measles or polio and spread it to someone else. Getting and spreading diseases is entirely out of our control. The _only_ way to stop these diseases is either 1) cut off all human contact, or 2) get a vaccine.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/12 "2016-09-07T15:01:23Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> So…what is your “motivation”?
See? That’s \*\*Vicsage’s \*\*problem. He was never serious about _the craft._
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### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/13 "2016-09-07T15:11:36Z")
Although there had been a strong temperance movement for decades before, the argument has been put forward that Prohibition would never have come to pass if it hadn’t been for _ **one single** _ person; a man who was both an indefatigable advocate of the cause and a genius at forming coalitions of even the most unlikely bedfellows:
> **[Wayne Wheeler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Wheeler)**
>
> Wayne Bidwell Wheeler (November 10, 1869 – September 5, 1927) was an American attorney and longtime leader of the Anti-Saloon League. The leading advocate of the prohibitionist movement in the late 1800s and early 1900s, he played a major role in the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which outlawed the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages.
> Wheeler was a native of Brookfield Township in Trumbull County, Ohio where he was raised on his fam...
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### Author:  [@Vicsage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicsage)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/14 "2016-09-07T15:15:24Z")
No, this thread is about people who believe they can impose their views and actions on other people because they may see it as the greater good (they can even be right). But when you use the same criteria to their vices or sacred cows they get upset and refuse to force the beneficial activities. So far no one has even addressed the number of lives lost by drinking. 88,000. I understand why. It causes them psychological and emotional pain to see their double standard. So they attack the messenger and ignore the message. The other point about prohibition not working, maybe we should have tried to fix why it didn’t work. Laws against many crimes are not that effective and are being broken all the time. Maybe we should just legalize things when people keep doing them.
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### Author:  [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/15 "2016-09-07T15:17:34Z")
> [@running\_coach](#):
>
> See? That’s \*\*Vicsage’s \*\*problem. He was never serious about _the craft._
I see what you did there.
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### Author:  [@TheStake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheStake)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/16 "2016-09-07T15:19:32Z")
I feel like you could use a glass of wine. This entire thread doesn’t seem to be about alcohol. If you are upset about something else just say that! Making an inflammatory thread to push your agenda seems passive aggressive.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/17 "2016-09-07T15:24:53Z")
Prohibition is not about making people do something. It’s about making them not do something.
Vaccination regs are about making people do something.
Perhaps our esteemed OP should go back to the Kindergarten lesson where “yes” and “no” were explained. Or try some Sesame Street episodes, there’s probably several on the subject.
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### Author:  [@Vicsage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicsage)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/18 "2016-09-07T15:25:30Z")
Respond to the message not the messenger. 88,000 dead, many more injured. I know the conflict of a double standard is painful, you can get through it.
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### Author:  [@Vicsage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicsage)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/19 "2016-09-07T15:28:01Z")
So its better to force an action, than prohibit an action?
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### Author:  [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266/20 "2016-09-07T15:32:27Z")
> [@Vicsage](#):
>
> Respond to the message not the messenger. 88,000 dead, many more injured. I know the conflict of a double standard is painful, you can get through it.
But will the message reply? If the message isn’t even going to bother to show up, what’s the point?
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibition/765266.md?page=2)