Willis–Campbell Act

U.S. Prohibition-era law
  • Alcoholic Liquor Traffic Act
  • Beer Emergency Bill
  • National Prohibition Definition Act
  • Supplementary Volstead Act
Long titleAn Act Supplemental to the National Prohibition Act.NicknamesNational Prohibition Supplemental Act of 1921Enacted bythe 67th United States CongressEffectiveNovember 23, 1921CitationsPublic lawPub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 67–96Statutes at Large42 Stat. 222CodificationTitles amended27 U.S.C.: Intoxicating LiquorsU.S.C. sections amended27 U.S.C. ch. 1 §§ 2, 3, 5Legislative history
  • Introduced in the House as H.R. 7294 by Philip P. Campbell (R–KS) on June 2, 1921
  • Committee consideration by House Judiciary, Senate Judiciary, House Rules
  • Passed the House on June 27, 1921 (268–102)
  • Passed the Senate on August 8, 1921 (46–21)
  • Reported by the joint conference committee on August 16, 1921; agreed to by the House on August 23, 1921 (agreed) and by the Senate on November 18, 1921 (62–24)
  • Signed into law by President Warren G. Harding on November 23, 1921
Major amendmentsMedicinal Liquor Prescriptions Act of 1933United States Supreme Court casesLambert v. Yellowley

The Willis–Campbell Act of 1921 was a piece of legislation in the United States intended to clarify and tighten regulations around the medicinal use of alcohol during Prohibition. The law, sponsored by Republican Sen. Frank B. Willis of Ohio and Rep. Philip P. Campbell of Kansas, specified that only "spirituous and vinous liquors" (i.e. spirits and wine, thus excluding beer) could be prescribed medicinally, reduced the maximum amount of alcohol per prescription to half a pint, and limited doctors to 100 prescriptions for alcohol per 90-day period. It was commonly known as the "beer emergency bill".[1][2]

The Act kept in force all anti-liquor tax laws that had been in place prior to the passage of the Volstead Act in 1919, giving authorities the right to choose whether or not to prosecute offenders under prohibition laws or revenue laws, but at the same time guaranteeing bootleggers that they would not be prosecuted in both ways.

References

  1. ^ Appel, JM (2008). "'Physicians are not bootleggers.' The short, peculiar life of the medicinal alcohol movement". Bull Hist Med. 82 (2): 355–386. doi:10.1353/bhm.0.0005. PMID 18622072. S2CID 37764670.
  2. ^ "Just What the Doctor Ordered". The Smithsonian. April 2005. Retrieved 22 November 2017.

External links

  • Hanson, Ph.D., David J. (29 April 2016). "Willis-Campbell Act Restricted Prescriptions for Alcohol". AlcoholProblemsandSolutions.org. State University of New York.
  • Cowan, Rubey; Joyce, Billy (1920). "Oh! Doctor". Digital Commons - University of Maine. New York: Stark & Cowan, Inc.
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  • Prohibition (2011 documentary miniseries)


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