WEBVTT - Did Doctors Really Prescribe Alcohol During Prohibition?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vogebam here with artisanal cocktails, craft micro brews, and

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<v Speaker 1>mile long wine menus just about every restaurant and bar

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<v Speaker 1>from coast to coast. It's hard to imagine an alcohol

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<v Speaker 1>free era in America, but for thirteen years, the National

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<v Speaker 1>Prohibition Act otherwise known as the Volstead Act, banned recreational

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<v Speaker 1>drinking and the manufacturer, transportation, and sale of intoxicating liquors

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<v Speaker 1>in the United States. And while bootleggers and speakeasy operators

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<v Speaker 1>found ways to sneakily sell booze despite the law, in

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<v Speaker 1>the nineteen twenties and early thirties, one unlikely group legally

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<v Speaker 1>provided easy access to alcohol. Doctors. You may not think

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<v Speaker 1>of your friendly neighborhood and medical office as the most

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<v Speaker 1>likely makeshift liquor store, but for a time in America,

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<v Speaker 1>physicians were able to escape the law and make a

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<v Speaker 1>few bucks on the side of For the article, this

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on How Stuff Works, spoke Karen Blumenthal,

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<v Speaker 1>author of the book Bootleg, Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless

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<v Speaker 1>Years of Prohibition. She explained doctors had long prescribed alcohol

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<v Speaker 1>as medicine, but it became a thriving business during Prohibition.

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<v Speaker 1>It's true alcohol had been widely used throughout history to

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<v Speaker 1>treat an array of medical conditions, though it eventually fell

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<v Speaker 1>out of favor with doctors, and by nineteen seventeen, the

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<v Speaker 1>American Medical Association or a m A, voted to support

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<v Speaker 1>the prohibition of alcohol across the country. But by nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>twenty two, just two years after the Volstad Act went

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<v Speaker 1>into effect, a national a m A survey called Referendum

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<v Speaker 1>on the Use of Alcohol in the Medical Profession revealed

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<v Speaker 1>some interesting developments. Suddenly American doctors believed alcohol was a

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<v Speaker 1>useful treatment for twenty seven separate medical conditions, including everything

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<v Speaker 1>from diabetes and cancer to snake bites and lactation problems.

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<v Speaker 1>How Stuff Works also spoke with Garrett Peck, author of

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<v Speaker 1>the Prohibition hangover Alcohol in America From demon Rum to

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<v Speaker 1>cult Cabvernet. He said medicinal alcohol was a popular loophole

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<v Speaker 1>in the Volstead Act, the prohibition enforcement law. Before Prohibition,

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<v Speaker 1>doctors widely recognized that alcohol is not medicine, but during Prohibition,

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<v Speaker 1>the m A changed its opinion, in part because patients

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<v Speaker 1>still wanted to drink, even though the a m A

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<v Speaker 1>Had previously declared that alcohol had no scientific value. The U. S.

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<v Speaker 1>Treasury Department authorized doctors to write prescriptions for alcohol. Peck

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<v Speaker 1>said doctors were given prescription forms to prescribe medicinal whiskey

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<v Speaker 1>at pharmacies. This was widely abused, as the forms were

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<v Speaker 1>often copied and much more whiskey was released from bond

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<v Speaker 1>than the federal government ever intended. Blumenthal said doctors did

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<v Speaker 1>it for sure, but pharmacists and others also sold bogus

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<v Speaker 1>prescription forms. Many people never went to a doctor. They

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<v Speaker 1>went to the pharmacist, who could provide a prescription form

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<v Speaker 1>and deliver the prescription. In fact, historians have suspicions about

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<v Speaker 1>one famous pharmacist, Charles Walgreen, whose Walgreen's chain expanded from

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<v Speaker 1>twenty stores to five hundred and twenty five during the

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen twenties. Many credited the founder's introduction of the milkshake

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<v Speaker 1>for the chain success, but as Charles Walgreen Jr. Later

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<v Speaker 1>Told an interviewer, while his father was worried about the

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<v Speaker 1>danger of fires in his stores, he quote wanted the

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<v Speaker 1>fire department to get in as fast as possible and

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<v Speaker 1>get out as fast as possible, because whenever they came

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<v Speaker 1>in would always lose a case of liquor from the back.

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<v Speaker 1>How Stuff Works. Also spoke with Daniel Okrant, author of

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<v Speaker 1>Last Call, The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. He said

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<v Speaker 1>the prescription exemption was eagerly sought by the same physicians who,

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<v Speaker 1>in the walk up to the eighteenth Amendment had officially

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<v Speaker 1>through the A. M A argued that there was no

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<v Speaker 1>real medical use for liquor. What they realized as the

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<v Speaker 1>Volstad Act was being drafted was the opportunity to take

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<v Speaker 1>advantage of it, and doctors and pharmacists weren't the only

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<v Speaker 1>ones able to circumvent the law of Farmers were allowed

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<v Speaker 1>to produce wine for their own consumption, and religious leaders,

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<v Speaker 1>including priests and rabbis, were allowed to serve it during

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<v Speaker 1>services and ceremonies, but physicians were the ones who stood

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<v Speaker 1>to make a profit. Okrant said any doctor could give

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<v Speaker 1>a patient a prescription of a pint of whiskey or

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<v Speaker 1>other alcohol every ten days. In most cities, three dollars

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<v Speaker 1>was the going price for the prescription, and a similar

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<v Speaker 1>amount was paid to the pharmacist who filled it. And

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<v Speaker 1>of course others found ways to turn a profit on

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<v Speaker 1>the restricted substance. During Prohibition two, the National Archives notes

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<v Speaker 1>that New York City by itself boasted between thirty thousand

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<v Speaker 1>and a hundred thousand speakeasies in a peck, said George Remus,

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<v Speaker 1>the man who inspired the Great Gatsby, figured out that

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<v Speaker 1>medicinal whiskey was a great business model. He bought up

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<v Speaker 1>a bunch of distilleries which had rick houses full of

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<v Speaker 1>whiskey that couldn't be sold, then bought up pharmacies to

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<v Speaker 1>distribute the whiskey. He then bribed federal official to allow

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<v Speaker 1>a lot more whiskey to seep out of his rick houses.

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<v Speaker 1>Remus made a fortune in a short period of time,

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<v Speaker 1>and although some opportunistic alcohol pushers did in fact get

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<v Speaker 1>reprimanded for crossing legal lines, the end of the thirteen

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<v Speaker 1>year band put an end to most litigation against perpetrators.

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<v Speaker 1>My House to Works also spoke with Phil Roberts, a

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<v Speaker 1>University of Wyoming history professor, who said one of the

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<v Speaker 1>last people in Wyoming charged with violating the prohibition law

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<v Speaker 1>was a medical doctor. Oddly, he was charged the very

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<v Speaker 1>day before Wyoming's constitutional convention meant to vote on repeal

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<v Speaker 1>of the Eighteenth Amendment. Later, the charges against the doctor

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<v Speaker 1>were dismissed. Today's episode is based on the article Ridiculous

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<v Speaker 1>History when doctors prescribed alcohol during Prohibition on House to

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<v Speaker 1>works dot com, written by Michelle Konstantinovski. Brain Stuff is

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<v Speaker 1>production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff

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<v Speaker 1>works dot com and it's produced by Tyler Playing four

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