How progressive was prohibition? Commentary on Smashing the Liquor Machine , the Francesco Guicciardini Prize Forum

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Notes1 Forel, who makes no appearance in Schrad’s pages, was also a frank racist, a fact that further complicates generalisations about the progressive nature of prohibition.2 The same thing happened with narcotics enforcement, though blowback mattered less for narcotic policy because opiate addicts and marijuana smokers were fewer in number and less politically active than alcohol drinkers.Additional informationNotes on contributorsDavid T. CourtwrightDavid T. Courtwright, PhD, is a graduate of the University of Kansas and Rice University and Presidential Professor Emeritus at the University of North Florida. He is past president of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society and author of Dark Paradise (1982, 2001); Addicts Who Survived (1989, 2012); Forces of Habit (2001); and The Age of Addiction: How Bad Habits Became Big Business (2019). He is currently researching the opioid crisis.