US university outlaws alcohol
The University of Oklahoma has joined an increasing number of higher education institutions in the US and banned alcoholic drink from the campus. Unlike other universities which have decided to go 'dry', Oklahoma students risk expulsion if they are caught with alcohol on the campus more than three times. The decision to outlaw alcohol was taken earlier this year in a bid to improve the health of students and cut down anti-social behaviour associated with excessive alcohol consumption. Last September Blake Hammontree, an Oklahoma fresher aged 19, died from alcohol poisoning following a night of heavy drinking. Alcohol is already is restricted to over 21s only in the US, but the law is widely flouted, even by President Bush's daughters.
Campaigns against alcohol in the US have a long and unsuccessful history. The Temperance Movement was founded in the early 1800s by churches to spearhead a crusade against alcohol. They sent speakers out across the country to inform the population about the perils of beer and spirits. By 1838 the Temperance Movement had collected a million signatures on a petition presented to Congress demanding a complete ban on alcohol in the US. This was an impressive achievement, as the total US population at the time was only 10 million. Congress ignored the demands of the Movement.
In 1851 Maine became the first state to pass a law prohibitng the sale, production and consumption of alcohol. Thirteen other states had followed Maine's example by 1855. The Temperance Movement went from strength to strength, blaming many of the social ills springing from industrialisation on excessive drinking by the working class. Victory came in 1919 when the 19th Amendment and the Volstead Act were passed, these outlawed drinks containing more than 0.5% alcohol by volume in the US.
Unfortunately Prohibtion was far from successful. The infamous gangster Al Capone made huge amounts of money smuggling alcohol across the Canadian and Mexican borders. Illegal distillaries produced adulterated alcoholic drinks that were frequently fatal for drinkers after one sip. Law enforcement became impossible as millions of ordinary citizens became criminals for consuming small amounts of alcohol. Gangsters up and down the country benefited from the situation, using their new found wealth to corrupt public officials. In 1933 the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt reprealed the 19th Amendment and the Volstead Act.
However, Prohibtion continued at the state level with Oklahoma, Kansas and, Mississippi staying dry. Mississippi only legalised alcohol in 1966, the state legislature having banned it in 1906. Many counties in the US have declared themselves dry, although this merely means that liquor stores cannot be located within county boundaries. Every presidential election is graced with a candidates from the Prohibition Party. Founded 1869 it is the oldest political party in the US after the Democrats and the Republicans. In the 2004 presidential race they received only 142 votes, standing only in Colorado.
Americans can still enjoy their alcoholic drinks for now, even the Bush administration baulks at supporting a re-introduction of Prohibition. Compared to abortion, birth control and affirmative action, alcohol consumption is not a hot issue in America's Culture Wars. The Temperance Movement is dead and its successors extremely weak. For US university students, however, the land is stalked by the spirit of 1919.
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