The 21st Amendment
By the mid 1920s less than 20% of Americans supported prohibition because they believed that prohibition caused more issues rather than solve the initial problem. Opponents of Prohibition no longer argued for its repeal because of civil liberty, but instead introduced the idea that the revival of the liquor industry would provide jobs and tax revenue. This new idea appealed to the general population of the United States as the Great Depression hit in 1929. In the 1932 campaign for the presidency, Franklin D. Roosevelt promised to repeal Prohibition. Almost immediately after his inauguration, he introduced changes in the Volstead Act to legalize the sale of beer. In 1933 the 21st amendment to the constitution was passed. The 21st amendment repealed the eighteenth amendment however still relinquishing control to the government to regulate and tax beverage alcohol. The government was also responsible for preventing its illegal production. The amendment made it so that states had the right to continue prohibition under state laws. The states that chose to do this adopted alcohol beverage control laws (ABC laws) to lessen the abuses that provoked the passing of the 18th amendment. As the grand result of the prohibition era changes were made to American law and constitutionalism. It directly influenced the shape of the constitutional system “by specifying a seven-year time limit for ratification." so that repeal wouldn't be necessary in the case that after some time the amendment proved to be unsuccessful as the 18th amendment was. Also it caused the growth of the law-enforcement establishment within the federal government because it bought the previously overlooked struggle to enforce laws to the public's attention. Since then efforts to forbid or moderate the use of alcohol by adults have become obsolete. Instead the treatment of alcoholism is now viewed as the solution to alcoholism and of other alcohol related problems.