Fake ID cards are often used by those under the age of 21 to buy alcohol. These cards have become both very popular and very good.
Persons under the age of 21 are buying millions of fake driver’s licenses. This is despite holograms and other security features to reduce forgery. Highly accurate replicas amaze authorities. Some police officials estimate that half of underage high school and college students have fake IDs.
Using the Internet, young people can get replica driver’s licenses for all 50 U.S. states and DC. There are thousands of sites offering them.
An official reports that fake IDs are getting very good. In fact, so good that they have to use lab equipment to detect them. The official teaches police how to spot fake IDs. He revises his training manual monthly to keep up with improvements in fake ID’s.
A Felony
In response, federal law makes it a felony for web sites in the U.S. to offer them for sale. Or for offering templates for making false driver’s licenses. So some such sites now operate from other countries. Yet thousands of such sites currently operate in the U.S.
Some skirt the law by advertising their products as “novelty” or “souvenir” IDs. And they’re not intended to be used illegally. And, of course, templates can easily be passed freely from user to user.
States are spending millions of dollars attempting to deter the millions of fake IDs. Yet officials admit that as soon as they improve security features, bright people devise ways of duplicating them.
Prohibition Leads to Problems
During National Prohibition in the U.S. (1920-1933), people were also inventive. Tens of millions violated a law they considered foolish. Speakeasies and blind pigs sprang up like dandelions in springtime. Bootleg flooded the entire nation.
Illegal alcohol was produced at all levels of society. From ordinary citizens to the highest levels of government. It included a member of the President’s cabinet. And it was drunk by all levels of people. Even Congress even had its own bootleggers. And there were also high society bootleggers. In short, Prohibition was a disaster.
There was widespread sale of bootleg. Yet the combined efforts of federal, state and local law enforcement couldn’t stop it. Nor could the might of the U.S. military.
Drives Drinking Underground
Prohibition drives drinking underground. There people drank large amounts in a short time. It always has this negative effect on drinking. It discourages moderation and leads to abuse.
Just like National Prohibition, our current age-specific prohibition also discourages moderation. It promotes abuse and is counter productive.
The only question is how long it will take us to accept this clear fact. And then to act on it.