Viewing The Noble Experiment in Minnesota. Thomas L. Olson: Book Review of Elaine Davis, "Minnesota 13: Stearns CountyThe Noble Experiment in Minnesota. Thomas L. Olson: Book Review of Elaine Davis, "Minnesota 13: Stearns County Alcohol prohibition in the United States, as proscribed by the Constitution's 18th Amendment, lasted just 13 years and failed utterly. Yet it is the subject of countless books and articles--both popular and scholarly. It has also been the stuff of endless fiction and motion pictures. And it continues. Perhaps it's the drama of larger-than-life mobsters. Perhaps it's also because in a sense, in the way we approach seeming problems, prohibition never ended. Nowadays it's not alcohol production and use but rather the use and perceived misuse of drugs, mild to high-powered, which results in extraordinary jail time for violent and casual offenders alike. Then, and now in some places, we finally came to grips with laws that do more damage than good.
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