Okrent’s Last Call The Rise and Fall of Prohibition Essay

January 1920, the opening year of the 18th Amendment that sought banning â€Å"the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors† within the United States and its US territories. Many Americans relate this era with speakeasy, public law breaking, and a public disregard for the establishment of prohibition. The 18th Amendment was the first constitutional amendment that sought to limit the rights of citizens and their rights to drink. This would become an attempt that many would soon come to realize as one of the greatest failures in law enforcement in American History. For if an American wants to drink, those with the American spirit for rebellion will surly offer him one. The book â€Å"Last Call,† by Daniel Okrent, provides an†¦show more content†¦Taking advantage of exemptions for so called medicinal alcohol fortunes where made. In many cases Doctors looking to supplement their income would proscribe several tablespoons of rum at each meal. Product whose effectiveness was never really proven nonetheless found a way into feminine products that made promises of fertility and relief of craps. Industrial wood alcohols, which never intended for human consumption, began finding its way into the American palate. Necessary for products such as shaving cream, anti-freeze, and mouthwash toxic wood alcohol was poisons. Leaving many of those who consumed the resulting product would find themselves in hospitals with alcohol poisoning, many near death. Officials would declare, â€Å"Drinking these produces are paramount to self suicide.† Doing nothing claiming that no one should have drunken these products in the first place. Sacramental uses for alcohol was another issue. Many religions groups had for centuries used wine in their traditions and services. Events such as weekly communion, and pass over even mentioned wine in scripture. The Religious use of wine widely accepted in congress and an exception was added. During prohibition many religious leader and those calling themselves on would give into corruption in many cases. On one occurrence two African-Americans who Okre nt quotes, â€Å"found god through the ideology of Judaism,† where