ABSTRACT
Alcohol is the most commonly consumed licensed drug in the world. Second only to caffeine, alcohol is used by more people and in larger quantities than any other substance. According to archaeological evidence, alcohol has a long history in human civilization dating back to 6400BC. There were times when alcohol was unsuccessfully outlawed as well as times when alcohol was conditionally accepted in the society. A number of governments were greatly concerned about alcohol consumption during World War 1, as they feared that drunkenness may hamper the war efforts. For example, Russia outlawed the sale of vodka and the British government restricted the availability of alcohol by imposing restrictions on the Public Houses opening times (before the war started, it was 5am to mid-night and then, during the war, it was changed to 12:00-2.30pm and 6.30-9.30pm) and increased tax on alcohol (the rate of tax was increased to five times what it was before the war). Due to these restrictions in the UK from 1914 to 1918, total alcohol consumption fell from 89 million gallons to 37 million gallons and the number of convictions of being drunk in London fell from 67,103 in 1914 to 16,567 persons in 1918 (Learning Curve, The UK National Archives, London). However, a similar attempt by the Russian government to control alcohol sales ended up in failure as people started producing their own alcohol which resulted in only the reduction (about 30 percent) of the government’s tax revenue.
