For hundreds of American communities, prohibition never ended. Nearly 80 years after the law banning alcohol was repealed in 1933, many counties and towns in the South continue their “dry” ways. Citizens residing in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Kentucky and several other states, remain committed to daily life that forbids the sale of any kind of alcoholic drinks.

 

Some counties have modified their local ordinances, allowing cities to become “moist” (sell alcohol). The latest to do so was Williamsburg, in southeastern Kentucky, where a local referendum was approved on Tuesday by just 14 votes to permit drinking in restaurants holding more than 100 customers.

 

Unfortunately, many dry areas in Kentucky have been plagued by illegal drug use, with methamphetamine labs taking over from moonshine liquor, and the use of Oxycontin, known as “hillbilly heroin,” spreading.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

The Slow Death of Prohibition (by Brian Wheeler, BBC News)

Dry Counties Show Higher Rates of DUI-Related Crashes (by Adam Sulfridge, Corbin Times-Tribune)