Dictionary Definition
prohibition
Noun
1 a law forbidding the sale of alcoholic
beverages; "in 1920 the 18th amendment to the Constitution
established prohibition in the US"
2 a decree that prohibits something [syn:
ban, proscription]
3 the period from 1920 to 1933 when the sale of
alcoholic beverages was prohibited in the United States by a
constitutional amendment [syn: prohibition
era]
4 refusal to approve or assent to
5 the action of prohibiting or inhibiting or
forbidding (or an instance thereof); "they were restrained by a
prohibition in their charter"; "a medical inhibition of alcoholic
beverages"; "he ignored his parents' forbiddance" [syn: inhibition, forbiddance]
User Contributed Dictionary
see Prohibition
English
Pronunciation
Noun
Antonyms
Related terms
Translations
law that prohibits something
- Czech: zákaz
- German: Verbot
- Japanese: 禁止法
- Kurdish: قهدهغه
something that is forbidden, disallowed, or
proscribed; something illegal or illicit
- Japanese: 禁止
- Kurdish:
Extensive Definition
- 1914 to 1925 in Russia and the Soviet Union
- 1915 to 1922 in Iceland (though beer was still prohibited until 1989)
- 1916 to 1927 in Norway (wine and beer also included in 1917)
- 1919 in Hungary (in the Hungarian Soviet Republic, March 21 to August 1; called szesztilalom)
- 1919 to 1932 in Finland (called kieltolaki)
- 1920 to 1933 in the United States
North America
Nordic countries
The Nordic
countries, with the exception of Denmark, have had a
long temperance tradition. Prohibition was enforced in Iceland from 1915
to 1922 (with beer prohibited until 1989), in Norway from 1916 to
1927 and in Finland between
1919 and 1932. Sweden utilized a rationing system (Brattsystemet
or "motboken") between
1914 and 1955; a
referendum in 1922 rejected total prohibition. Alcohol was still
prohibited in the Faroe
Islands until 1992. Nordic countries today, with the exception
of Denmark,
strictly control the sale of alcohol. There are government
monopolies in place for selling liquors, wine and stronger
beers to consumers, in Norway (Vinmonopolet),
Sweden
(Systembolaget),
Iceland
(Vínbúðin)
and Finland
(Alko).
Corporations, like bars and restaurants, may import alcoholic
beverages directly or through other companies. The temperance
movement in Scandinavia
(parts of which are affiliated with the
International Organisation of Good Templars), which advocates
strict government regulations concerning the consumption of
alcohol, have seen a decline in membership numbers and activity
during the past decades but are now on the rise again, in example
Swedish IOGT-NTO having a
net gain of 12,500 members in 2005.
Russia and Soviet Union
In the Russian Empire, a Dry Law was introduced in 1914. It continued through the turmoil of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Russian Civil War into the period of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union until 1925.Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia
Alcohol is prohibited in some Muslim countries because of Quranic cautions against the drink:- ''"Shaitân (Satan) wants only to excite enmity and hatred between you with intoxicants (alcoholic drinks) and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allâh (God) and from As-Salât (the prayer). So, will you not then abstain?"http://muttaqun.com/alcohol.html
- "They ask you (O Muhammad) concerning alcoholic drink and gambling. Say: "In them is a great sin, and (some) benefit for men, but the sin of them is greater than their benefit." And they ask you what they ought to spend. Say: "That which is beyond your needs." Thus Allâh makes clear to you His Laws in order that you may give thought."'' http://muttaqun.com/alcohol.html
Saudi Arabia
completely bans the production, importation or consumption of
alcohol and imposes strict penalties on those violating the ban,
including weeks to months of imprisonment, and possible lashes, as
does Kuwait.
During the Gulf War in
1991, the Coalition banned its troops in Saudi Arabia from drinking
alcohol in order to show respect for local beliefs.
Qatar bans the
importation of alcohol and it is a punishable offense to drink
alcohol or be drunk in public. Offenders may incur a prison
sentence or deportation. Alcohol is, however, available at licensed
hotel restaurants and bars, and expatriates living in Qatar
can obtain alcohol on a permit system.
The United
Arab Emirates restricts the purchase of alcohol from a liquor
store to non-Muslim foreigners
who have residence permits and who have an Interior Ministry liquor
license. However bars, clubs, and other establishments with liquor
licenses do not face the same restrictions. Alcohol was first
permitted in Bahrain, known to
be the most progressive Persian Gulf
state and the earliest to prosper, popular with those crossing the
causeway from Saudi Arabia.
Iran began restricting
alcohol consumption and production soon after the 1979
Revolution, with harsh penalties meted out for violations of
the law. However, there is widespread violation of the law.
Officially recognized non-Muslim minorities are allowed to produce
alcoholic beverages for their own private consumption and for
religious rites such as the Eucharist.
Alcohol was banned in Afghanistan
during the rule of the Taliban. In the
wake of the ousting from power of the Taliban, the ban was lifted
for foreigners, who can buy alcohol in certain shops on
presentation of their passport to prove they are foreigners.
Libya bans the
import, sale and consumption of alcohol, with heavy penalties for
offenders. Tunisia has a
selective ban on alcohol products other than wine, with consumption
and sale being allowed in special zones or bars "for tourists" and
in big cities
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Features/0,,2-11-37_1475919,00.html.
Wine, however, is widely available. Morocco prohibits
the sale of alcohol during Ramadan http://french.about.com/library/travel/bl-ma-alcohol.htm
Sudan has banned all
alcohol consumption and extends serious penalties to
offenders.
Other 'Arab' or 'mainly Muslim' countries such as
Egypt do not have any ban on alcohol and production as well as
consumption are perfectly legal. That is under the provision that
minors below the age of 18 cannot legally purchase alcoholic
beverages.
South Asia
Some states of India are dry, for example the states of Gujarat and Mizoram. Certain national holidays such as Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti (birthdate of Mahatma Gandhi) are meant to be dry nationally. The state of Andhra Pradesh had imposed Prohibition under the Chief Ministership of N.T.Rama Rao but this was thereafter lifted.Pakistan allowed
the free sale and consumption of alcohol for three decades from
1947, but restrictions were introduced by Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto just weeks before he was removed as prime minister
in 1977. Since then, only members of non-Muslim minorities such as
Hindus,
Christians and
Zoroastrians
are allowed to apply for permits for alcohol. The monthly quota
depends on their income but is usually about five bottles of liquor
or 100 bottles of beer. In a country of 140 million, only about 60
outlets are allowed to sell alcohol and has only one legal brewery,
Murree
Brewery in Rawalpindi.
Enforced by the country's Islamic Ideology Council, the ban is
strictly policed. However, members of religious minorities often
sell their liquor permits to Muslims and a black market trade in
alcohol continues.
Bangladesh has
also imposed prohibition, though some hotels and restaurants are
licensed to sell alcohol to foreigners. Foreigners (but not locals)
are allowed to import small quantities of alcohol for personal
use.
The Maldives
ban the import of alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are available only
to foreign tourists on resort islands and may not be taken off the
resort.
Southeast Asia
Thailand bans the selling of alcohol during the afternoon to prevent schoolchildren from buying alcohol. The electronic cashiers of supermarkets and convenience stores are programmed not to accept alcoholic beverages during this time, but cashiers frequently circumvent the register restrictions by scanning a non-alcoholic item of equal value.In Brunei alcohol consumption in public is banned
and there is no sale of alcohol. Non-Muslims are allowed to
purchase a limited amount of alcohol from their point of
embarkation overseas for their own private consumption. Non-Muslims
over 17 years of age may be allowed to bring in not more than two
bottles of liquor (about two quarts) and twelve cans of beer per
person into the country.
Australia
Alcohol is prohibited in many remote indigenous
communities across Australia.
Penalties for transporting alcohol into these "dry" communities are
severe and can result in confiscation of any vehicles involved; in
dry areas within the Northern
Territory, all vehicles used to transport alcohol are seized
and there is no right of appeal.
Because alcohol consumption has been known to
lead to violence, some communities sought a safer alternative in
substances such as kava,
especially in the Northern
Territory. Over-indulgence in kava causes sleepiness, rather
than the violence that can result from over-indulgence in alcohol.
These and other measures to counter alcohol abuse met with variable
success, with some communities seeing decreased social problems and
others reporting no decreases. The ANCD study notes that in order
to be effective, programs in general need also to address "...the
underlying structural determinants that have a significant impact
on alcohol and drug misuse" (Op. cit., p.26). The Federal
government banned kava imports into the Northern Territory in
2007.
There have been various places proclaimed alcohol
free in the past, including Australia's capital city, Canberra, which
was dry from 1910 to 1928. The American born politician King
O'Malley ran this legislation through Federal Parliament in
Melbourne at the time the capital territory was established. When
Federal Parliament moved from Melbourne to Canberra in 1927, one of
the first pieces of legislation passed in the new Parliament House
was the repeal of O'Malley's prohibition laws.
A number of Melbourne's
suburbs had a long running prohibition on the sale (though not
consumption) of alcohol. One or two still exist, including the
Camberwell region of Boroondara. Ascot Vale was founded as a dry
suburb, but hotels were soon built at the outside corners of the
settlement.
Similarly, the irrigation settlement of Mildura was also
founded with a prohibition on the sale of alcohol in 1887. This was
inaugurated by its founders, the Chaffey
brothers. However, the brothers also operated a winery, even
producing fortified
wine. Alcohol was readily available from nearby
Wentworth however, and the ban was eventually lifted.
References
Further reading
- Susanna Barrows, Robin Room, and Jeffrey Verhey (eds.), The Social History of Alcohol: Drinking and Culture in Modern Society (Berkeley, Calif: Alcohol Research Group, 1987)
- Susanna Barrows and Robin Room (eds.), Drinking: Behavior and Belief in Modern History University of California Press, 1991
- Jack S. Blocker, David M. Fahey, and Ian R. Tyrrell eds. Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Encyclopedia 2 Vol. (2003)
- JS Blocker, Jr. "Did prohibition really work? Alcohol prohibition as a public health innovation." Am J Public Health. 2006 Feb;96(2):233-43. Epub 2005 27 December.
- Ernest Cherrington, ed., Standard Encyclopaedia of the Alcohol Problem 6 volumes (1925-1930), comprehensive international coverage to late 1920s
- Jessie Forsyth Collected Writings of Jessie Forsyth 1847-1937: The Good Templars and Temperance Reform on Three Continents ed by David M. Fahey (1988)
- Gefou-Madianou. Alcohol, Gender and Culture (European Association of Social Anthropologists) (1992)
- Dwight B. Heath, ed; International Handbook on Alcohol and Culture Greenwood Press, 1995
- Patricia Herlihy; The Alcoholic Empire: Vodka & Politics in Late Imperial Russia Oxford University Press, 2002
- Sulkunen, Irma. History of the Finnish Temperance Movement: Temperance As a Civic Religion (1991)
- Tyrrell, Ian; Woman's World/Woman's Empire: The Woman's Christian Temperance Union in International Perspective, 1880-1930 U of North Carolina Press, 1991
- White, Helene R. (ed.), Society, Culture and Drinking Patterns Reexamined (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies, 1991).
- White, Stephen.Russia Goes Dry: Alcohol, State and Society (1995)
- Robert S. Walker and Samuel C. Patterson, OKLAHOMA GOES WET: THE REPEAL OF PROHIBITION (McGraw-Hill Book Co. Eagleton Institute Rutgers University 1960).
- Samuel C. Patterson and Robert S. Walker, "The Political Attitudes of Oklahoma Newspapers Editors: The Prohibition Issue," The Southwestern Social Science Quarterly 1961.
External links
prohibition in Arabic: منع الكحول
prohibition in Catalan: Llei seca
prohibition in Czech: Prohibice
prohibition in German: Alkoholprohibition
prohibition in Spanish: Ley seca
prohibition in Basque: Lege lehor
prohibition in French: Prohibition
prohibition in Korean: 금주법
prohibition in Italian: Proibizionismo
prohibition in Hebrew: חוק היובש
prohibition in Dutch: Drooglegging (Verenigde
Staten)
prohibition in Norwegian: Forbudstiden
prohibition in Polish: Prohibicja
prohibition in Portuguese: Lei Seca
prohibition in Russian: Сухой закон
prohibition in Slovenian: Prohibicija
prohibition in Serbian: Прохибиција
prohibition in Finnish: Kieltolaki
prohibition in Swedish: Alkoholförbud
prohibition in Chinese: 禁酒令
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Eighteenth Amendment, Volstead Act, arrest, arrestation, ban, banning, bar, barring, blockade, boycott, check, circumscription,
constraint, control, cooling, cooling down, cooling
off, curb, curtailment, debarment, debarring, deceleration, demarcation, determent, deterrence, disallowance, disallowing, discouragement, embargo, estoppel, exception, exclusion, forbiddance, foreclosure, forestalling, halt, hindrance, inadmissibility,
inhibition, injunction, interdict, interdicting, interdiction, legal
restraint, lockout,
monopoly, narrowing, nonadmission, obviation, omission, outlawing, outlawry, preclusion, prevention, prohibitionism, proscribing, proscription, protection, protectionism, protective
tariff, rationing,
rein, rejection, relegation, repudiation, restraint, restraint of trade,
restriction,
retardation,
retrenchment,
self-control, slowing down, stay, stop, stoppage, stopping, taboo, tariff wall, thought
control