Prohibition stands asa reminder of governmental limitations and policy failures.
To wary politicians, prohibition has become a shorthand reference for the pitfalls of divisive moral legislation which should be avoided at all costs. On the other hand, opponents of narcotics laws and strict governmental regulation of tobacco, to use two recent examples, attack these government controls as 'prohibition,' using that loaded term to summon up memories of foolish, unenforceable, vindictive laws that sparked massive popular resistance and a loss of faith in government itself. Pegram, an associate professor of history at Baltimore's Loyola College, spoke with Senior Editor Nick Gillespie by phone in January. Both times, there was a confluence of factors. The democratic makeup of the United States allows groups to turn their behavioral viewpoints into legislation.