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Prohibiting a market does not mean destroying it. Prohibiting a market means placing a prohibited but dynamically developing market under the total control of criminal corporations. Lev Timofeev, Russian dissident mathematician
But with narcotics, where demand is immense and relentless, prohibition drives the market towards the only place capable of satisfying that demand and regulating the industry: organised crime. Misha Glenny, McMafia
Prohibition is also a godsend to terrorist networks. Organisations like the Taliban and al-Qaeda fund their activities through the narcotics trade. ibid.
If a country supports prohibition, it is also guaranteeing that on the supply side all profits will accrue to underground networks; and on the demand side it is guaranteeing that any social or public-health problems associated with drug-taking will only come to light in the great majority of cases once they are out of control. ibid.
Lev Timofeev argues that prohibition tends to distort the market, favouring cartels and monopoly tendencies. This is because, he continues, larger organisations are more efficient at enforcing their monopoly than smaller ones. Translated into the vernacular, this means that big criminal groups can beat the shit out of smaller ones. ibid.
In the 1920s when it was illegal to have a drink Luciano’s ready-made criminal organisation was quick to capitalise on this unpopular law. Luciano and his fellow gangsters were able to diversify and forge a powerful syndicate of crime. Mafia Empire: Vow of Silence, History 2006
Like other gangsters Dutch [Schultz] built his empire by profiting from prohibition. Mobsters: The Mob’s Greatest Hits, Biography 2009
Atlantic City, 1921: Monster, vicious brute, friend to thief and prostitute, conscience dulled by demon rum, liquor – thy name is delirium. Boardwalk Empire s1e1, Women’s Temperance League meeting, HBO 2010
Prohibition means Progress. ibid. Nucky
The story of how frontier lawlessness and prohibition unleashed gang massacre upon America. Days that Shook the World s3e2: St Valentine’s Day Massacre, BBC 2005
Together, Torrio and Capone enter the illegal alcohol trade. Al Capone – The Untouchable Legend, 1998
This was not a difficult job. Because the stench of fermenting mash could be noticed sometimes as far as half a mile away. Eliot Ness, diary
Prohibition has made nothing but trouble. Al Capone
My rackets are run on strictly American lines and they’re going to stay that way. Al Capone
I am just a businessman giving the people what they want. Al Capone
All I do is satisfy a public demand. Al Capone
I am going to St Petersburg, Florida, tomorrow. Let the worthy citizens of Chicago get their liquor the best they can. I’m sick of the job – it’s a thankless one and full of grief. I’ve been spending the best years of my life as a public benefactor. Al Capone
Accardo became a runner for a number of these operations – he was distributing liquor around the city of Chicago. Richard Lindberg, author Return to the Scene of the Crime
1930: Prohibition has transformed Chicago into a city at war. Rival gangs compete for control of the city’s billion-dollar empire of illegal alcohol, enforcing their will with the hand grenade and the Tommy gun. It is the time of the Ganglords. It is the time of Al Capone. The Untouchables 1987 starring Kevin Costner & Charles Martin Smith & Sean Connery & Andy Garcia & Patricia Clarkson & Richard Bradford & Jack Kehoe & Robert De Niro et al, director Brian De Palma, opening caption
No period in Chicago’s history was more violent than the years of prohibition. Call Northside 777 1948 starring Jimmy Stewart & Richard Conte & Lee J Cobb & Helen Walker & Betty Garde & Howard Smith & Moroni Olsen & J Kerrigan & John McIntire & Paul Harvey et al, director Henry Hathaway, opening remarks
The history of the United States can be told in eleven words: Columbus, Washington, Lincoln, Volstead, two flights up and ask for Gus. New York Evening Sun
For many a total ban is the only solution: on January 16th 1919 the 18th amendment to the Constitution is ratified. Prohibition makes the manufacture and sale of alcohol illegal. America: The Story of the US: Boom, History 2010
Tomorrow we may die, so let’s get drunk and make love. Lipstick aka Lois Long
Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water. W C Fields
The accession of not one but three illegal drug users in a row to the US presidency constitutes an existential challenge to the prohibitionist regime. The fact that some of the most successful people of our time, be it in business, finances, politics, entertainment or the arts, are current or former substance users is a fundamental refutation of its premises and a stinging rebuttal of its rationale. A criminal law that is broken at least once by 50% of the adult population and that is broken on a regular basis by 20% of the same adult population is a broken law, a fatally flawed law. How can a democratic government justify a law that is consistently broken by a substantial minority of the population? What we are witnessing here is a massive case of civil disobedience not seen since alcohol prohibition in the 1930 in the US. On what basis can a democratic system justify the stigmatization and discrimination of a strong minority of as much as 20% of its population? Jeffrey Dhywood, World War D: The Case Against Prohibitionism
We can no more hope to end drug abuse by eliminating heroin and cocaine than we could alter the suicide rate by outlawing high buildings or the sale of rope. Ben Whittaker, The Global Fix, 1987
The issue is moral and ethical. The issue is freedom. Penn & Teller, Bullshit! s2e4: The War on Drugs, Showtime 2004
A twenty-billion-dollar a year waste of our money. This ridiculous prohibition has been a favourite political tactic of every power-hungry wack-jobs following in Nixon’s random staggering lying insane footsteps. ibid.
Cocaine: it’s been described as the alchemy of prohibition. Howard Marks on Drugs, 2010
Prohibition doesn’t really doesn’t work very well. It actually makes dangerous drugs more dangerous. It pushes the market towards ever more concentrated and potent products. Steve Rolles, Transform head of research
Seventy years of prohibition has failed to stamp out cannabis production, and has lined the pockets of the world’s most ruthless criminals. Drugs Inc s1e4: Cannabis, National Geographic 2010
The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this. Albert Einstein
Don’t Shoot! No Liquor In This Car. Car sticker
It was a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far reaching in purpose. Herbert Hoover
A law that would imprison Jesus if he turned water into wine. Pete Hamill
Here life was always very alive and sometimes even lurid. Terrible saloons might be, but then that only meant they were terribly wonderful. Jack London