Head on over to Ye Olde Tap Room and celebrate your freedom to raise a glass here in Michigan!
On May 1, 1918, Michigan passed a law calling for full prohibition, that is, the Michigan legislature voted to turn hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents into criminals. However, on February 18, 1919, the Michigan Supreme Court held that law to be unenforcible.
The period of freedom did not last long. Five weeks later, on March 27, 1919, another law making criminals out of ordinary citizens who like to drink was passed. Before it could be overturned, the U.S. Government passed nationwide prohibition, and legalized all alcohol-prohibiting state laws.
This state of affairs lasted until 1933, when the U.S. Government, at long last recognizing the connection between high crime rates and prohibition, got out of the alcohol prohibition business and turned the matter over to the states. A state convention was held in 1933, with one delegate from each state house district. They voted 99 to 1 to repeal prohibition.
During prohibition in Michigan (1919-1933) 54,007 people were prosecuted in Michigan state courts for alcohol "crimes," with 36,327 convicted.
One of those was Fred M. Palm, who got life imprisonment for 14 ounces of gin.
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Another was Etta Mae Miller, a 48 year old woman with 10 children who got life imprisonment for 2 pints of moonshine whiskey.
In the year following the reinstatement of the right to drink, homicides in Michigan dropped 70%.
