by David J. Hanson

About the author: David J. Hanson is a professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Potsdam and the author of Alcohol Education and Preventing Alcohol Abuse.

What can we do to reduce alcohol abuse?

People have different ideas about what kind of laws and policies might reduce alcohol abuse. The prohibitionists said we should eliminate all alcohol beverages, but that didn’t—and won’t—work. Prohibition actually leads to even more problems, such as the growth of organized crime, increased disrespect for law, unregulated and dangerous beverages, increased violence, the loss of tax revenue, corruption of law enforcement and other public officials, increases in binge drinking, and many other serious problems.

The Prohibitionist Approach

What do today’s prohibitionists believe?

Because of the clear...