View source for Prohibitionism

{{Short description|Legal philosophy and political theory}}
'''Prohibitionism''' is a [[legal philosophy]] and [[political theory]] often used in [[lobbying]] which holds that citizens will abstain from actions if the actions are typed as unlawful (i.e. prohibited) and the prohibitions are enforced by law enforcement.<ref name=cantystrategies>C Canty, A Sutton. ''Strategies for community-based drug law enforcement: From prohibition to harm reduction''; in T Stockwell, PJ Gruenewald, JW Toumbourou, WLoxley W, eds. ''Preventing Harmful Substance Use: The Evidence Base for Policy and Practice.'' New York: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2005. pp. 225-236.</ref> This philosophy has been the basis for many acts of [[statutory law]] throughout history, most notably when a large group of a given population disapproves of and/or feels threatened by an activity in which a smaller group of that population engages, and seeks to render that activity legally prohibited.<ref name=cantystrategies/>

== Examples ==
Acts of prohibition have included [[sumptuary law|prohibitions on types of clothing]] (and [[Public nudity|prohibitions on lack of clothing]]), prohibitions on [[gambling]] and [[striptease|exotic dancing]], the [[prohibition of drugs]] (for example, [[prohibition of alcohol|alcohol prohibition]] and [[cannabis prohibition]]), [[smoking ban|prohibitions on tobacco smoking]], and [[gun prohibition]]. Indeed, the period of [[Prohibition in the United States]] between 1920 and 1933 due to the [[Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eighteenth Amendment]] and the [[Volstead Act]] often is referred to simply as "[[Prohibition]]", as is the "[[War on Drugs]]" that succeeded it.

== Criticism ==
{{more citations needed section|date=July 2009}}
The success of a measure of prohibitionism has been criticized as often depending too much upon effective enforcement of the relevant legislation. Some people{{Who|date=July 2011}} have argued this is because the majority of the targets of prohibitionism are in the category of [[victimless crime]], where they claim the harm that comes from the crime is non-existent, questionable, or only to the person who performs the act and even then the magnitude of the harm being relatively small.{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} Under this interpretation enforcement becomes a conflict between violation of statue and violation of free will.{{Why?|date=July 2011}} Since the acts prohibited often are enjoyable, enforcement is often the most harmful choice to the individual. This sometimes results in laws which rarely are enforced by anybody who does not have a financial or personal motivation to do so.{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}}

The difficulty of enforcing prohibitionist laws also criticized as resulting in selective enforcement, wherein the enforcers select the people they wish to prosecute based on other criteria, resulting in [[discrimination]] based on races, culture, nationality, or financial status. For example, [[United States|American]] philosopher [[Noam Chomsky]] has criticized drug prohibition as being a technique of [[social control]] of the "so-called dangerous classes".<ref>[http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/20020208.htm Noam Chomsky, "On the War on Drugs", ''Week Online'', DRCNet, February 8, 2002]</ref>

Prohibitionism based laws have the added problem of calling attention to the behavior that they are attempting to prohibit.  This can make the behavior interesting and exciting, and cause its popularity to increase. This is essentially in relation with the [[Streisand effect]].

== See also ==

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*[[Gambling]]
*[[Gambling in the United States]]
*[[Gun prohibition]]
*[[Lobbying]]
*[[Prohibition]]
*[[Prohibition in the United States]]
*[[Prohibition of alcohol]]
*[[Prohibition of drugs]]
*[[Prohibition Party]] 
*[[Repugnancy costs]]
*[[Scottish Prohibition Party]]
*[[Smokeasy]]
*[[Smoking ban]]
*[[Speakeasy]]
*[[Sumptuary law]]
*[[Temperance movement]]
{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.cedro-uva.org/lib/cohen.rethinking.html Peter Cohen, ''Re-thinking drug control policy – Historical perspectives and conceptual tools'', United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, 1993]
*[http://www.co-psychiatry.com/pt/re/copsych/abstract.00001504-200305000-00002.htm;jsessionid=FWlXKXQcXtckn82dHCxvYnpwyL0BWM265CPn2d6Br07mpdC4hByC!641301743!-949856144!8091!-1 Simon Lenton, "Policy from a harm reduction perspective", ''Current Opinion in Psychiatry'' 16(3):271–277, May 2003]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070527192717/http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VJX-4834NV6-1&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2003&_alid=515922818&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=6106&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=dc2e357fd02e909e7ebeb54f3d867221 Harry G. Levine, "Global drug prohibition: its uses and crises", ''International Journal of Drug Policy'', 14(2): 145–153, April 2003] (journal article)
*[http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/(4p2ehk55t0yeb1avgc1zk5ve)/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,1,14;journal,16,73;linkingpublicationresults,1:102207,1 Should cannabis be taxed and regulated?]{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (journal article)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071018013255/http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VJX-497HGRX-4&_coverDate=08%2F31%2F2003&_alid=515930874&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=6106&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=28cea442de84c7ed24f79eec3fe8fbe1#m4.1 Learning from history: a review of David Bewley-Taylor's The United States and International Drug Control, 1909–1997] (journal article)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070527193010/http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VJX-3WV9N0M-6&_coverDate=06%2F01%2F1999&_alid=515930889&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=6106&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=50eb60d3e2572dc5349790fc42c0d7ac Shifting the main purposes of drug control: from suppression to regulation of use]
* [https://www.doi.org/10.1046/j.1360-0443.1997.929114312.x Setting goals for drug policy: harm or use reduction?]{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070527185933/http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VJX-4834NV6-3&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2003&_alid=515930956&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=6106&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=10a00293bbea846a04ceae5de3df159a Prohibition, pragmatism and drug policy repatriation]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071018013200/http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VJX-4834NV6-2&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2003&_alid=515930973&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=6106&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=5e3c3ce3a938992e56b558c58b5958c5 Challenging the UN drug control conventions: problems and possibilities]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Prohibitionism| ]]
[[Category:Alcohol law]]
[[Category:Social conflict]]
[[Category:Drug control law]]
[[Category:Law enforcement in the United States]]
[[Category:Philosophy of law]]
[[Category:Political science terminology]]
[[Category:Political theories]]
[[Category:Prohibition]]
[[Category:Tobacco control]]