January 16 marks the 100th anniversary of prohibition.
The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had a number of good effects, as well as its many unintended bad ones. For instance, it stopped epidemic-level alcohol abuse nationwide, as is documented in Ken Burns’ Prohibition. It also had ramifications for the Catholic Church. One was in the Church’s favor: The I.R.S. okayed a loophole for sacramental wine for Catholics and others. But anti-Catholic governments in Colorado and elsewhere attempted to ban sacramental wine anyway.
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