> prohibition does more harm than good. According to our shared oral mythology about bootlegging gangsters, yes. According to all available crime and health da

> prohibition does more harm than good. According to our shared oral mythology about bootlegging gangsters, yes. According to all available crime and health data from the time it was an incredible success. Crime fell. People got healthier. There was less domestic abuse (people forget that temperance was first and foremost a women's movement). None of this was outweighed by the increase in organized crime. Prohibition was a "failure" in the sense that people like alcohol and do not wish it to be illegal. It was not a failure by any other definition (boogeyman stories about "organized crime" notwithstanding). This is easier to see if your baseline is, "excessive alcohol consumption is a societal disaster" (which is the correct baseline). Prohibition would have to generate a staggering level of harm to match the existing harms of consumption.