ICE IS THE 'BATHTUB GIN' OF MODERN TIMES

During the 1960s I worked in a Navy shipyard, and several of my co-workers
used amphetamines known as "whites" or "mini-bennies." When these products
were made illegal, "ice," or crystal methamphetamine, was born.

Today's ice labs are similar to the illegal distilleries of the era known as
the "noble experiment." During the alcohol Prohibition era, thousands died
and thousands went blind or were crippled from what was then known as
"bathtub gin."

Like the ice of today, bathtub gin was made easily from household and
industrial products. Like the ice of today, the gin was a product created by
a prohibition. Like the ice of today, alcohol could be produced just about
anywhere. Like the ice of today, Prohibition-era alcohol was of unknown
quality, potency and purity.

When Prohibition ended in 1933, almost all of the bathtub gin producers went
out of business for economic reasons and the U.S. murder rate declined for
10 consecutive years. Have we learned any lessons? Not yet.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.

Frequent Hawaii visitor