Our modern world is riddled with crime. But with the most recent revolutions in forensic technology, organized crime is in decline. However, another danger has gained popularity in recent centuries; alcohol. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 10,288 people died in crashes caused by a drunk driver in 2010 alone. Drunkenness is also one of the biggest contributing factors to rape in the United States, as the Rape/sexual assault requires the victim not giving consent OR the victim being incapable of giving consent, and being intoxicated by alcohol is classified as incapable of giving consent. due to alcohol's ability to impair judgment. (Al Capone: A Biography). With these facts presented like this, one might wonder why we haven't banned this stuff yet. The answer lies in the "roaring twenties", when the prohibition of alcohol did not produce good results. The Eighteenth Amendment was put into effect to prohibit the manufacture, sale, and transportation of all intoxicating liquors. Shortly thereafter, the Volstead Act, named after author Andrew J. Volstead, took effect. This companion law determined intoxicating beverages to be anything with an alcohol content greater than 0.5 percent, omitting alcohol used for medicinal and sacramental purposes; this law also established guidelines for its application. The ban was intended to reduce alcohol consumption, and thus reduce crime, poverty, death rates and improve the economy and overall quality of life. But it probably was of no use. (Prohibition, Jeff Hill).After the Volstead Act was established to determine specific laws and methods of enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Prohibition was developed to ensure that the Vo.... ... middle of paper .... ...s to abolish the Eighteenth Amendment throughout his campaign. He kept his word and nine months after his inauguration, prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment. (Biographies of the Roaring Twenties). Clearly, prohibition did not do what it was supposed to do. It didn't solve any problems: crime didn't go down, the economy didn't grow, and alcohol consumption didn't decrease. In fact, on these three points, the exact opposite happened. The only question is why it took so long for the Americans to realize they had made a mistake. Canada introduced prohibition law in 1917 and abandoned it two years later, but it took stubborn Americans more than thirteen years to swallow their pride and pass the 21st Amendment, whose sole purpose was to repeal the 18th. (Ban, Jeff Hill). This leaves one to wonder; are we better with or without alcohol?