The U.S. repealed Prohibition of alcohol at the height of the Great Depression, in part because of increasing violence and in part because of diminishing tax revenues.

CNN: Commentary: Legalize drugs to stop violence

Hotel operations start, of course, with a complete prohibition of alcohol.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

Daniel Okrent, author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, sees two parallels between today's legal and cultural marijuana environment and the late 1920s and early '30s when the move to end America's experiment with prohibition of alcohol gained steam.

BBC: Marijuana legalisation in the US: Five burning questions

On legalization beyond medical use, we may be some years away, or we may find that we suddenly reach a tipping point, much like the end of alcohol prohibition in the last century.

FORBES: My War On Drug Laws

Just as gangsters were largely driven out of the alcohol market after the end of prohibition, violent drug gangs would be driven out of a decriminalized drug market.

WSJ: Have We Lost the War on Drugs?

Prof Coker, author of Liquor in the Land of the Lost Cause: Southern White Evangelicals and the Prohibition Movement, says the idea that consumption of alcohol is sinful is deeply embedded in the southern evangelical mind.

BBC: The slow death of prohibition

Supporters of Proposition 19 argued that the "prohibition" of marijuana -- much like that for alcohol decades ago -- has created a violent criminal black market, led today by international drug cartels.

CNN: Variety of proposals on ballots in 37 states

Just as the process of repealing national alcohol prohibition began with individual states repealing their own prohibition laws, so individual states must now take the initiative with respect to repealing marijuana prohibition laws.

WSJ: George Soros: Why I Support Legal Marijuana

"As usual during papal visits there will be a prohibition, " the papers says, referring to a ban on the sale of alcohol over 4.5% in strength.

BBC: Soldiers prepare crowd barriers