23
votes
Why did the US prohibit alcohol (instead of some other substance) during Prohibition
Prohibition did not come about because people were seeking to ban anything and decided to select alcohol. Rather, prohibition was the culmination of a temperance movement that had developed in the US ...
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19
votes
Accepted
Why did the US prohibit alcohol (instead of some other substance) during Prohibition
Alcohol was banned by Congress through Amendment 18 in 1917 because of Protestant protest groups and grassroot campaigns from several Woman's Rights Movement organizations. The Wikipedia article sums ...
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16
votes
Accepted
Why was the prohibition of intoxicating liquor enacted through a constitutional amendment?
Our cousin site, History.SE had an answer by @Athanasius covering this in-depth.
I won't copy/paste the whole answer, but the executive summary is that Constitutional amendment had the following 3 ...
- 90.8k
13
votes
Why was the prohibition of intoxicating liquor enacted through a constitutional amendment?
In the early 1900s, many American Protestants strongly supported Prohibition, but in order to outlaw alcohol (or anything), the only option Congress had was to wait for the States to amend the ...
- 688
9
votes
Accepted
Why did cannabis get legalized first?
Perhaps because (at least in the US) marijuana has a much greater number of users than other drugs, and a still larger base of people who regard it as basically harmless even if they don't care to use ...
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5
votes
Why did the US prohibit alcohol (instead of some other substance) during Prohibition
Cocaine and heroin became illegal in 1915. LSD and XTC did not exist, at least not as something used recreationally.
The main reason that they chose alcohol over other drugs was how widespread its ...
- 88.8k
4
votes
Why did cannabis get legalized first?
First you must understand why it was made illegal in the first place.
Previous questions along related topics can help. This and this both speak to some of the political reasoning behind making it ...
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2
votes
Why did the US prohibit alcohol (instead of some other substance) during Prohibition
So there are two parts to the answer.
First, why ban anything?
At the time, women were just starting to see the possibilities of voting. At the time men created the laws, they approve them, they ...
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2
votes
Why did the US prohibit alcohol (instead of some other substance) during Prohibition
To build on a summary in Phoog's answer:
Alcohol was considered the root cause of spousal abuse (the driving reason behing Women's temperance league).
Almost everyone drank alcohol, for historical ...
- 90.8k
2
votes
Why did cannabis get legalized first?
The demographics of the United States are changing, and the Boomers are now our elderly. The elderly, not coincidentally, are the age bracket that is most likely to vote in elections.
But first, ...
- 16.9k
1
vote
Accepted
How can I determine how and who legislates drug laws?
Advisors advise, minsters decide.
In Australia the goverment employs an advisory council "Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs" to provide it with advice on drug ...
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