Pour Prohibition

The Friday File: The 18th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on 1/17/1919 and went into effect a year later; 100 years ago today! Massachusetts was the first state to pass a temperance law in 1838, and in 1846 Maine was the first to prohibit alcohol sales. Prohibition turned crime into organized crime and created cocktail culture as moonshine was generally foul. US alcoholic beverage sales currently total $250 billion/year.