Prohibition began in January 16, 1920 when the 18th Amendment went into affect. The Federal Prohibition agents (police) were given the task of enforcing the law. Even though the sale of alcohol was illegal, alcoholic drinks were still widely available at "speakeasies" and other underground drinking establishments. There were over one hundred speakeasies in just one state. There were also a lot of smugglers who smuggled alcohol also known as “Bootleggers”. (http://www.1920-30.com/prohibition/)

While prohibition was in affect it limited amounts of wine and hard cider were permitted to be made at home. Many people did not care and did it anyway. There were some people who believed that Whiskey helped with health problems; so some doctors prescribed people with it for “health issues”. The labels clearly warned that it was strictly for medicinal purposes and any other uses were illegal, but even then doctors wrote prescriptions and drug-stores filled them without question. (http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/p/prohibition.htm)

This increased the number of "patients" dramatically. Many people were supposedly getting sick or “Whiskey Fever”. There was no attempt was made to stop this practice, so many people got their alcohol this way. Over a million gallons were consumed per year through freely given prescriptions. So eventually they put an end to the Prohibition of alcohol and people continued their ways of drinking as they wanted. (http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=1017&full=1)