Meeting ended 11:20
Richards Research
History of Alcohol Prohibition
In 1920, the national policy of Prohibition began. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution had been officially ratified:
It sought, by law, to make the whole Nation into enforced teetotallers and to put an end to all evils associated with drinking. It sought to eradicate a taste deeply rooted in the habits and customs of a large part of the population through outlawing the business that ministered to its satisfaction (Hu, 1950: 48).
1650-1750: THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS
In fact, it started earlier. "Ministers shall not give themselves to excess in drinking, or riot, or spending their time idellye day or night," ruled the Virginia Colonial Assembly in 1629 (Cherrington, 1920:16).
Massachusetts ordered that no person shall remain in any tavern "longer than necessary occasions" in 1637, while Plymouth Colony in 1633 prohibited the sale of spirits "more than 2 pence worth to anyone but strangers just arrived" (Cherrington, 1920: 18).
This sampling of the earliest colonial laws is representative of the attempt, continued since those times, to control excessive consumption. Excessive drinking, it was considered, produced behaviour unseemly in some, such as ministers, and dangerous in others, such as Indians.
But drinking per se was not frowned upon. Indeed, when the Puritans set sail to Massachusetts, they had taken care to carry with them 42 tons of beer (in contrast with 14 tons of water) and 10,000 gallons of wine (Lee, 1963: 15).
The regulation of liquor consumption was a matter of considerable concern in certain colonies. Thus, for a time, Massachusetts went so far as to prohibit the drinking of healths in 1638 (Lee, 1963: 19). The law was soon abandoned for reasons obvious, albeit unrecorded. It rapidly became clear, however, that liquor laws could do more and perhaps better, than control consumption: they could provide a source of revenue. By the turn of the 18th century, the regulatory impulse was concentrated on fines, excise taxes and license fees.
Fines were imposed for drunken behavior, unlawful sales to a drunken tippler or to Indians, and for selling without a license. Court records indicate that these laws were enforced with reasonable regularity (Krout 1967: 29-30). Licenses often carried their own fees, and excise taxes were levied upon distilled spirits as well as beer and fermented drink in many cases.
Until the 18th century, however, there was no attempt to prohibit the manufacture, importation, sale, or consumption of alcoholic beverages. Quite the contrary, at least one individual-in some cases a reluctant individual-was required in many towns to run the local inn or public house for visitors and travelers.
Although colonial statutes made it clear that tipplers and idlers were unwelcome, the diary of a colonial traveler, Sarah Kemble Knight, suggests that such laws were unsuccessful in containing the ribaldry which took place in many such houses. Madam Knight complained:
Methods
Using self-reported alcohol consumption data collected repeatedly over 50 years (1948-2003) among 8,600 Framingham Heart Study participants to determine patterns of alcohol use and disorders according to sex, age and birth cohorts.
Results
Among drinkers, there was a decrease across succeeding birth cohorts in average alcohol intake: among individuals between ages 30 and 59, age-adjusted mean intake was 30.6, 25.5, and 21.0 g/day for those born in 1900-19, 1920-39, and 1940-59, in men (p< 0.001), and 14.2, 12.3 and 10.4 g/day in women (p< 0.001), respectively. In all birth cohorts, proportion of abstinence increased and average consumption among drinkers decreased with age. Furthermore, proportion of moderate use was higher but heavy use was lower in the younger birth cohorts than in the older cohorts. The proportion of alcohol from beer decreased and that from wine increased with age for all cohorts. Among the two earlier birth cohorts, the cumulative incidence of an alcohol use disorder from age 40 to 79 was much higher in men (12.8%) than in women (3.8%); it tended to be slightly higher among subjects born after 1920 than among those born 1900-1919.
Conclusions
What was found was a decrease in average intake and more wine consumption over the more than 50 years of follow up. The cumulative incidence of alcohol use disorders, however, did not show a decrease
| Alcohol consumption in the home
| Year | All alcoholic drinks (total) | Beer | Cider and Perry | Wine | Spirits | Alcopops |
| 1992 | 527 | 298 | 47 | 152 | 30 | 0 |
| 1993 | 536 | 297 | 44 | 164 | 32 | 0 |
| 1994 | 552 | 311 | 52 | 162 | 28 | 0 |
| 1995 | 627 | 338 | 77 | 180 | 32 | 0 |
| 1996 | 656 | 351 | 82 | 188 | 34 | 0 |
| 1997 | 653 | 365 | 58 | 196 | 32 | 2 |
| 1998 | 645 | 340 | 61 | 212 | 30 | 1 |
| 1999 | 640 | 329 | 60 | 213 | 35 | 4 |
| 2000 | 725 | 388 | 58 | 232 | 37 | 10 |
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