21st Century ‘Moonshine’? Prohibition Researcher Cites Historic
Parallels Whether they realize it or not, residents of Colorado
and Washington have traveled back in time – 80 years, to be
exact. The first two states to decriminalize recreational
marijuana are sharing in the national experience of 1933: the
end of Prohibition. And the similarities are uncanny, says
Prohibition-era researcher and author Denise Frisino. “As with
Prohibition and the criminalization of alcohol production and
sales, after marijuana possession was banned in 1937 there were
many unintended negative consequences,” maintains Frisino,
author of “Whiskey Cove,” (www.whiskeycovebook.com), a novel
based on firsthand interviews with Prohibition-era bootleggers
in the Pacific Northwest. “The most obvious is the proliferation
of corruption and organized gangs. After Prohibition became
effective in 1920, America saw the rise of unprecedented crime.”
And, as was true in the 1920s, increasing crime means a greater
need for – and expenditures on