Repeal of Prohibition

Those who suffered under the oppression "the stupendous blunder" of
alcohol prohibition entered the first Great World Depression (GWD I),
they entered the decade of the 1930's, believing they would not live
to see the day when alcohol prohibition would be repealed.

Republican President Herbert Hoover, who had presided over the The
Great Stock Market Crash of 1929 (and did little to avert or mitigate
the consequences) was a fervent supporter of alcohol prohibition. The
democrat who was emerging as his party's presidential candidate,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was known to inhale and completely
enjoy his martinis. And yet during his time as a New York state
senator The Anti-Saloon League (one of the most prominent
political/Christian religious organizations in the maintenance of
alcohol prohibition) reported that Roosevelt had a "perfect voting
record" in support of alcohol prohibition.

During FDR's campaign he gave only one unequivocal speech in favor of
the repeal of prohibition. He declared that he would, "correct the
stupendous blunder."

FDR considered prohibition to be a stupendous blunder because $100's
of millions of taxes (billions and billions of dollars in 2010 money)
that could be collected for the New Deal (that Roosevelt was already
planning) were instead going into the pockets of gangsters and
corrupted police and public officials. He considered prohibition to be
a stupendous blunder because it led to wholesale contempt and
disregard of the law. And he considered prohibition to be a stupendous
blunder because he knew that America badly needed a drink.

During the rest of his campaign he studiously, politically avoided
speaking on the subject of prohibition.

Then during the 1932 Democratic Convention, in Chicago, a floor fight
broke out about making repeal of prohibition a plank in the Democratic
Party's platform. The "wet" democrats won. In his acceptance speech
FDR said, "This convention wants repeal. Your candidate wants repeal."

In November, 1932 FDR won with 57% of the popular vote. He became
president on March 4, 1933.

On March 12, FDR had his first radio, fire-side chat with the
impoverished, destitute, anxious American people.

After the radio speech FDR knew he had connected, given hope. While he
was relaxing with two of his top aides in the oval office, after he
had given the fire-side chat, he said, "I think it's time for a beer."

That night he began planning the repeal of prohibition.

FDR knew the Volstead Act, which had imposed the hated prohibition in
1919, permitted the legalization of beverages with as much as five per
cent alcohol content. The next day, March 13, 1933, FDR sent to the
House a three sentence message requesting the legalization of 3.2
beer.

Ten days later on March 23, 1933, FDR signed an amendment to the
Volstead Act allowing for the manufacture and sale of 3.2 beer
(Cullen-Harrison Act). The act became law two weeks later - April 7,
1933.

At 12:01 a.m. on April 7 sirens, fire alarms, and bells sounded across the
country. In Chicago crowds stood 12 deep at the newly opened bars. In
front of the White House 800 people assembled. A local Washington,
D.C. brewery sent a truck full of Hawaiian Guitarists and beer and a
sign that read, "President Roosevelt - The First Beer is For You."

"Thousands of bars opened overnight," recalled author Studs Terkel,
"with every other beer on the house.

"In the midst of the Depression it
was a note of hope that something would be better," said Terkel.

By March 24 (two days after FDR had signed the law legalizing beer)
Milwaukee Breweries had hired more than 600 workers. Beer brewers in
New York City announced plans to spend $22 million to refurbish their
semi-derelict plants and bring workers back to the plants' assembly
lines.

In the 48 hours after beer taps opened on April 7, 1933 brewers paid
$10 million in state, federal and municipal taxes (about $155 million
in 2010 dollars).

Final repeal of the 18th Amendment, that had definitively imposed
prohibition, didn't happen until December 5, 1933, which perhaps
became the second happiest day for Americans during the GWD I.

There are many Americans, alive today, who believe they will not see
the day when cannabis prohibition will be repealed. And yet, the
oppression, the prohibition, the cultural war against those who use
and love the flowers of the cannabis plant is
fraying, unraveling.

During the presidential campaign Barak Obama made it clear he inhaled
- "That's the point, isn't it?"

One of his first decisions as president was to appoint, former Seattle
Police Chief, Gil Kerlikowske, as the 'Drug Czar' (head of the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy).

Kerlikowske immediately said that he wanted to "banish" the idea that
the government was fighting a war on drugs and plants which was really
a war against Americans. "We're not at war with people in this
country," he said.

Soon after becoming president Obama also announced that federal police
would not raid medical cannabis dispensaries in compliance with state
law.

In July, Obama issued a memo to federal prosecutors in states
with medical cannabis laws telling them not to waste scarce federal
resources on people in "clear and unambiguous compliance" with state
laws.

In California a petition to bring to referendum the legalization of
cannabis (would legalize the possession of up to an ounce, and
cultivation within a 25 square foot area, for personal use) has
received more than 680,000 signatures. The petition only needed 433,
971 valid signatures.

Polls indicate at least 56 per cent of Californian voters are
ready to vote for the repeal of cannabis prohibition.

If and when this referendum issue is approved by California voters at
least $1.6 billion of state and municipal taxes will be raised during
the first year of legalization.

If and when Californians vote for the repeal of cannibis prohibition a
decisive blow will be thrown against the whole stupendously stupid
blunder, and cannabis prohibition will fall.