What Prohibition Teaches Us About Cannabis: The Alcohol Comparison Nobody Wants to Have

Send us Fan Mail A costume-party Prohibition story falls apart fast when you look at the body count. I’m digging into a fact I didn’t know until recently and can’t stop thinking about: an estimated 10,000 Americans died from poisoned alcohol during Prohibition, and a meaningful share of that harm traces back to deliberate government policy. When you criminalize something people still want, the demand doesn’t evaporate. The supply chain changes hands, quality control disappears, and the risk s...