History Resources

Prescription for alcohol during Prohibition, 1923

A Spotlight on a Primary Source by H.C. McCarter

[Treasury Department Prescription Blank - National Prohibition Act], November 19, 1923. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)At midnight, January 16, 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcohol took effect. The Eighteenth Amendment banned the manufacture and sale (but not the possession, consumption, or transportation) of "intoxicating liquors." One exception to the ban was alcohol needed for medicinal purposes. The Internal Revenue Service, which was charged with enforcing prohibition, issued special, watermarked prescription forms to doctors who could prescribe "Spiritus Frumenti" (alcohol) to their patients. Loopholes abounded; Dr. McCarter, who issued this prescription to Ira Altsman of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, was a coroner. Altsman filled his prescription the same day it was written.

A full transcript is available.

Questions for Discussion

Read the document introduction, view the image, and apply your knowledge of American history in order to answer the questions that follow.

  1. Make a list of the arguments that were expressed against alcoholic beverages.
  2. Why is there a strong suspicion that this prescription was falsely issued? Provide your reasons.
  3. Why did critics of the Volstead Act claim it was a law that was impossible to enforce?
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