For more than 4 in 10 convicted murderers being held either in jail or in State prison, alcohol use is reported to have been a factor in the crime. Nearly half of those convicted of assault and sentenced to probation had been drinking when the offense occurred.
About a quarter of the women on probation nationwide had been drinking at the time of their offense compared to more than 40% of male probationers (figure 30). For those convicted of public-order crimes, nearly two-thirds of women and three-quarters of men had been drinking at the time of the offense.
On an average day in 1996, an estimated 5.3 million convicted offenders were under the supervision of criminal justice authorities. Nearly 40% of these offenders, about 2 million, had been using alcohol at the time of the offense for which they were convicted.
Explain the discrepancy.
Alcohol is more disinhibiting of the animal side it seems. Any who have experience with it could tell you stories of watching a friend morph from Dr. Jeckyll into Mr. Hyde. I don't deny it is a powerful and potentially dangerous drug.
Would you support the re-instatement of alcohol prohibition. If not...why not?
No, I would not. Alcohol use (and abuse) is already established and we more or less have a framework for dealing with it. Pot use (and abuse) effects on a large scale are largely unknown, and frankly I don't see why we should risk trying to find out what the costs are.