The End
The Treasury Department established guidelines that suggested no more than one ounce of liquor could be prescribed for one person more than every three hours. That translates into about a pint of liquor over a 24 hour period. Patients were to pay the doctor a $3.00 fee for their exam and then pay another $3.00 to have their “whiskey prescription” filled. Within an hour a person could be enjoying their pint of prescribed whiskey instead of suffering from the effects of detoxification or the DTs. The downside was that he prescriptions could not be refilled. Corruption was abundant.
The American Medical Association (AMA) supported the temperance movement and the prohibition of all alcohol. They officially “opposed the use of alcohol as a beverage” and did not support its use as a therapeutic aid. Yet, the use of alcohol for medical purposes was a widespread practice throughout the world. Yet, doctors were tasked with determining who could get alcohol including shell-shocked soldiers, alcoholics, and people wishing to celebrate a new baby or marriage.
Teetotalers celebrated their victory while also unwittingly giving rise to a new and very violent American underground. Crime gangs began to control the manufacturing, transporting, and selling of intoxicating tonics. Speakeasies provide a surge in underground entertainment that openly challenged the cultural and social norms of the day. Women began wearing short dresses and short hair, which horrified the moral-minded. Yet, Americans continued to drink with the assistance of their doctors.
Doctors scrutinized the role the government played in dictating how they interacted with their patients. Some filed lawsuits to eliminate the “restrictive laws” passed by “laymen” that had little to no knowledge of medical care. The use of prescriptions for alcohol clearly exposed Prohibition for what it was, a sham. After 13 years, Americans had had enough. The 18th Amendment was repealed on December 5, 1933, when Utah became the 31st state to unanimously ratify the 21st Amendment. Prohibition was over but the damage it caused would continue.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
Daniel Okrent, Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, New York: Scribner, 2010.
Prohibition in the United States. Wikipedia.
Medicinal Alcohol. Temperance & Prohibition.
Drink Some Whiskey, Call Me in the Morning. Beer and Groping in America. January 2012.