ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the racist origins and racketeering consequences of drug and alcohol prohibition. Campaigns to prohibit drugs and alcohol in the United States emerged as part of a much broader moral reform movement. Tens of thousands of federal, state and local laws had been enacted in an attempt to coerce Americans into a virtuous and healthy life-style by prohibiting gambling, prostitution, alcohol and other drugs. Exaggerated claims, hysterical language and racial stereotyping also featured prominently in the propaganda calling for an end to alcohol use and the adoption of a constitutional amendment to prohibit the manufacture, transportation, sale or importation of intoxicating liquor within the United States. Alcohol, according to Hobson’s ‘research’, was also the main cause of feeble mindedness and sexual perversion in women. Early US drug and alcohol policy was influenced more by racism and sensationalism than by reason and realism.
