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who threaten highway safety but at putting

scrupulously brewed liquor flooded the black

market.15 Some observers credited Prohibition

the fear of a drunken driving arrest into social

drinkers, most of whom can responsibly mix a

with the popularity of the cocktail, which

drink or two over dinner with the drive home.

evolved as drinkers were forced to dilute harsh

The aim of the neoprohibitionist movement

underground libations to make them palat-

able.16

seems to fall short of constitutionally man-

dated sobriety. Rather, the neoprohibitionists

The great journalist and humorist H. L.

seem more interested in inconveniencing

Mencken wrote in 1925: "Five years of

social drinkers, embarrassing them, and

Prohibition have had, at least, this one benign

threatening them with draconian drinking

effect: they have completely disposed of all the

and driving laws to the point where consum-

favorite arguments of the Prohibitionists.

ing alcohol away from home just isn't worth

None of the great boons and usufructs that

the hassle.

were to follow the passage of the Eighteenth

In a RAND study that's something of a

Amendment has come to pass. There is not

milestone for the modern temperance move-

less drunkenness in the Republic, but more.

ment, Deborah Cohen and others concluded

There is not less crime, but more. There is not

that the "magnitude of alcohol-related health

less insanity, but more. The cost of govern-

Though a

problems in a population is directly related to

ment is not smaller, but vastly greater. Respect

return to formal

for law has not increased, but diminished."17

per capita consumption."18 Cohen and her

coauthors recommended "controlling access

Given that bitter 13-year experience, one

prohibition

to alcohol, penalties for violations of liquor

would think that America had learned its les-

seems farfetched,

laws, stricter licensing requirements and ran-

son: that the grand jazz-age experiment in

dom sobriety checkpoints."19 Those policy

a slightly

social engineering had failed so miserably

and completely that policymakers would

prescriptions succinctly summarize the goals

modified,

never be inclined to attempt it again.

of the neoprohibitionists: control the environ-

"back-door"

Unfortunately, that's not the case. There's a

ment of alcohol and alcoholism and shift the

new anti-alcohol fervor afoot. It began with a

focus away from alcohol abusers themselves.

prohibition is

laudable 20-year nationwide campaign

If enough restrictions are placed on access to

certainly feasible

against drunken driving that has since gone

alcohol, the thinking goes, society at large will

and probably

awry. State legislatures, municipalities, and

free itself from the external costs of drunken-

some segments of the federal government

ness. Indeed, Cohen told the Dallas Morning

already within

have rediscovered a strong distaste for alco-

News, "It's easier to control the providers than

reach.

it is the consumers."20

hol. Like its early 20th-century forebears,

today's anti-alcohol movement, or neoprohi-

The success of the new temperance move-

bitionism, is well funded, nonpartisan, and

ment is all the more remarkable considering

well versed in public relations.

the panoply of medical studies released over

It's also been fairly successful. Though a

the past several years touting the health bene-

fits of moderate alcohol consumption.21 In a

return to formal prohibition seems farfetched,

a slightly modified, "back-door" prohibition is

December 2002 article in the New York Times,

certainly feasible and probably already within

reporter Abigail Zuger summarized dozens of

reach. The new temperance movement has

studies on alcohol and human health, includ-

pushed for--and won--a wide range of anti-

ing large population studies of 80,000

alcohol initiatives across the country, includ-

American women, thousands of Danish men,

ing higher taxes on alcohol; zoning laws that

and more than 100,000 adults in California.

restrict taverns and bars or limit their concen-

Zuger writes: "A drink or two a day of wine,

tration in certain areas; bans and severe restric-

beer, or liquor is, experts say, often the single

tions on alcohol advertising; and aggressive

best nonprescription way to prevent heart

drinking and driving laws that are aimed not

attacks--better than a low-fat diet or weight

at rounding up seriously inebriated drivers

loss, better even than vigorous exercise.

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