From the very start of prohibition in 1920, the law against the drinking of alcohol was ignored by many people. The lack of public support for prohibition was one of the most important long term factors that led to its repeal in December 1933.

In 1933, 282122 illegal stills were seized. In 1925 there were 10000 speakeasies in Chicago and 15000 in Detroit. In 1926 there were 30000 in New York, these figures show a clear lack of support by the public and by 1933 there were almost 220000 speakeasies in the USA.

If an alcohol related case reached court, juries were often lenient as many of them were drinking themselves. In fact one jury in San Francisco was found drinking the evidence! This shows that prohibition was ignored by many people so the law was in effect almost useless as their was still a strong demand for alcohol, and people were still drinking.

What do you think? Was prohibtion ignored from the start?