The Temperance movement promised a perfect world and when that didn't happen, people joined together to bring back liquor.Prohibition was supposed to lower crime rates and corruption. It was also supposed to reduse social problems, lower taxes, and improve health and hygiene. Alcohol actually became more dangerous to drink, caused organized crime to grow, and endemic corruption of police and public officials occurred.
The government needed money and the citizens needed jobs. Making alcohol legal again would open up a lot of new jobs for citizens and additional sales taxes for the government.
One of the "side effects" of prohibition was alcoholic poisoning. Since bootleg alcohol was not produced under government supervision and wasn't made under the direction of chemists, its quality was extremely suspect.
Alcohol became more dangerous to consume, crime rose, court and prison systems were stretched to the breaking point, and corruption of police officials was rampant. Prohibition removed a lot of tax revenue and extremely increased government spending. It led many people to switch to opium, marijauna, patent medicines, cocaine, and a lot of other dangerous substances that they would have been unlikely to encounter in the absence of prohibition.
Prohibition greatly effected America's and Washington's economy.
