I love when science and history collide, and a recently published paper that looks at the effect of repealing prohibition on lifelong health is a great example of how the past can inform today.

After prohibition was lifted in 1933, lots of people started drinking, including pregnant women who didn’t know the impact it would have on their babies. By comparing the causes of death for babies born in wet and dry counties between 1935 and 1941, the study’s authors found maternal drinking was linked to a 3.3% greater chance of death, mostly from heart disease or stroke, between 1990 and 2004.

The findings suggest it’s time to ramp up efforts to eliminate drinking while pregnant, which leads to about 119,000 babies born annually with fetal alcohol syndrome, a condition associated with a wide range of physical, behavioral and cognitive issues.

It also suggests policy makers should recognize there may be long-term unintended consequences of a major public policy shift that is the prohibition repeal of our era: the legalization of marijuana.

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