NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Paul Charman: Prohibition not a complete failure

NZ Herald
21 Dec, 2017 05:44 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

American author Jack London. Photo / Supplied

American author Jack London. Photo / Supplied

Opinion

Decriminalisation is often floated as the solution to New Zealand's horrendous drug problems, but it's the last thing we need.

Let's continue to prohibit the use of illegal drugs — therefore reducing their ready availability.

Prohibition of a product harmful to the general public is a worthy aim and while it may not prevent such consumption, it limits the damage.

The main argument against prohibition seems to be based upon a faulty understanding of the law introduced in the United States from 1920 to 1933.

But what was achieved during that era deserves more scrutiny in my view.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Estimates are that alcohol consumption dropped up to 70 per cent during those early prohibition years, perhaps rising to about 50 per cent of pre-prohibition levels towards the end of the era.

Ask any politician if they'd consider it a failure to reduce alcohol-related problems by around half — even for just a few years.

No, they'd love to take full credit for the corresponding reductions in assaults, murders, road crashes, domestic violence and health expenditure generally.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The notion persists that Prohibition in America failed to prevent people drinking alcohol.
But Prohibition never actually made it illegal to do so.

The 18th Amendment merely forbade the "manufacture, sale and transportation of intoxicating liquors".

If you had a stash at home, you could still legally drink it, even after the law was passed. It follows that the quantum of booze consumed in the US during this era can only ever be estimated.

Nobody knows how much liquor was smuggled and distributed by the bootleggers, or how much moonshine was brewed in the woods. We can't plumb the lakes of wine produced for "medicinal purposes" or "church communion". And we can't say how much grog was consumed aboard "party ships", outside the three-mile-limit, and so forth.

But allowing for all that, the overall total was vastly less than when the liquor trade was legal.

The bootleggers were forced to drive delivery trucks at night and operate saloons in secret.

Then as now, most people choose to obey the law, and a product whose supply chains are driven underground is always consumed in correspondingly smaller quantities.

Jack London

Novelist Jack London, the larger than life 'Bear Grylls' of the early 20th Century, helped to get the temperance movement over the line public-opinion-wise.

His autobiography "John Barleycorn", was probably the first celebrity tell-all tale of addiction.

Coming from a macho perspective, it argued strongly for prohibition, though London died before seeing its introduction.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In his short life (1876-1916) London dominated the popular culture with stories and articles of manly adventure.

The powerful Boy Scouts of America endorsed his books, including "The Call of the Wild," "The Sea Wolf" and "White Fang".

His fiction and articles were based on experiences sealing, gold prospecting, riding the rails as a hobo and marching on Washington with an "army" of homeless men. He covered wars in Korea and Mexico and wrote America's first magazine article on surfing in Hawaii.

But London was an alcoholic. He argued that he would have gone further and achieved more had he not been exposed to heavy drinking from a young age.

He saw the idea of prohibition as a courageous social experiment.

In John Barleycorn he recommends it with all his heart, vividly unpacking the hypocrisies, self-deceptions and general foolishness of male drinking.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

London describes being drawn into drinking as a young sailor, wasting his wages, brawling with his friends and suffering various injuries.

His superbly written book appealed to men — widening the argument against booze beyond women's temperance movements of the time.

John Barleycorn

For example, it informed this editorial published in an editorial in the Wisconsin State Journal editorial in 1923:

"At Windsor, Canada, where a lot of liquor is smuggled across the river into Detroit and on to other cities, the police find a dead man wrapped in a blanket and buried in a marsh.

"Another victim of the rum-runners," the police say. Quite a common thing to find mysteriously murdered victims around Windsor. ... The worst element of the underworld cooperates with the bootlegging traffic. Its big profits lure crooks who otherwise would be blowing safes or holding men up with pistols.

But ... the crime that trails prohibition is small compared with the crime that was hatched in the old time saloon days. ... Let's not lose sight of the crime that accompanied the wide-open bar.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

John Barleycorn always was a bad citizen. He was the king of the underworld. Driven to cover, he naturally continues his operations to as great an extent as possible.

People have become so intensely interested in discussing prohibition that they are inclined to overlook ... the real problem is just what it was originally — the havoc of liquor.

It took generations of education and publicity to arouse people to the evils of King Alcohol. The injuriousness of liquor — to the health, to the home, and to the nation — should be remembered indelibly. The details of prohibition enforcement are secondary."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Bid for inquiry into Ōhinemutu sewage spills fails

05 Jul 06:00 PM
New Zealand|education

Region's first learning hub for migrant parents a 'transformative step'

05 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
New Zealand

Couple behind lauded cocktail bar call it a day: 'I don’t think people are prioritising social lives'

05 Jul 06:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Bid for inquiry into Ōhinemutu sewage spills fails

Bid for inquiry into Ōhinemutu sewage spills fails

05 Jul 06:00 PM

A cracked pipe last month led to sewage spilling into a geothermal pond in Ruapeka Bay.

Region's first learning hub for migrant parents a 'transformative step'

Region's first learning hub for migrant parents a 'transformative step'

05 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
Couple behind lauded cocktail bar call it a day: 'I don’t think people are prioritising social lives'

Couple behind lauded cocktail bar call it a day: 'I don’t think people are prioritising social lives'

05 Jul 06:00 PM
Flaxmere Woolworths site work begins, supermarket built by mid-2026

Flaxmere Woolworths site work begins, supermarket built by mid-2026

05 Jul 06:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP