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A large body of misinformation persists about the effects of prohibition and of its eventual repeal. To begin with, the ''per capita'' consumption of intoxicating liquors declined significantly during this period.<ref name=OSU/><ref name=MSNPro/> In addition, two economists estimated that the prevalence of [[cirrhosis]] of the [[liver]] declined by ten to twenty percent during the Prohibition era.<ref name=cirrhosis>Dills, Angela K., and Miron, Jeffrey A., [http://aler.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/6/2/285 Alcohol Prohibition and Cirrhosis], ''American Law and Economics Review'', 6(2):285-318, 2004 (retrieved April 7, 2007)</ref>

A large body of misinformation persists about the effects of prohibition and of its eventual repeal. To begin with, the ''per capita'' consumption of intoxicating liquors declined significantly during this period.<ref name=OSU/><ref name=MSNPro/> In addition, two economists estimated that the prevalence of [[cirrhosis]] of the [[liver]] declined by ten to twenty percent during the Prohibition era.<ref name=cirrhosis>Dills, Angela K., and Miron, Jeffrey A., [http://aler.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/6/2/285 Alcohol Prohibition and Cirrhosis], ''American Law and Economics Review'', 6(2):285-318, 2004 (retrieved April 7, 2007)</ref>

Crime did rise, and this consisted chiefly of direct flouting of the law and the spectacle of members of rival gangs killing one another in all-out wars for "territories" in the major cities, especially in Chicago. But perceptions of a massive crime wave are grossly exaggerated.<ref name=MSNPro/> Sadly, what is not exaggerated are the reports of widespread contempt for the law and for all authority.

Crime did rise, and this consisted chiefly of direct flouting of the law and the spectacle of members of rival gangs killing one another in all-out wars for "territories" in the major cities, especially in Chicago. But perceptions of a massive crime wave are grossly exaggerated.<ref name=MSNPro/> Sadly, what is not exaggerated are the reports of widespread contempt for the law and for all authority, and the establishment of powerful [[Organized Crime]] syndicates in the United States.

One often overlooked effect, not so much of prohibition ''per se'' as of the movement that established it, is [[women's suffrage]]. Women did not seriously agitate for the vote until they had a rallying issue. That issue was prohibition, and the concern of these women was that the men would simply vote to continue to enjoy their liquor, and women would continue to feel the secondary effects of desertion of the home, domestic physical abuse, and neglect of the husband's duty to provide. Ironically, women did not definitively win the vote (the [[Nineteenth Amendment]]) until ''after'' prohibition was already a part of the [[Constitution]].

One often overlooked effect, not so much of prohibition ''per se'' as of the movement that established it, is [[women's suffrage]]. Women did not seriously agitate for the vote until they had a rallying issue. That issue was prohibition, and the concern of these women was that the men would simply vote to continue to enjoy their liquor, and women would continue to feel the secondary effects of desertion of the home, domestic physical abuse, and neglect of the husband's duty to provide. Ironically, women did not definitively win the vote (the [[Nineteenth Amendment]]) until ''after'' prohibition was already a part of the [[Constitution]].

== See Also ==

== See Also ==

* [[Prohibition]]

* [[Prohibition]]

== External Links ==

== External Links ==