The “struggle” against alcoholism in the city of San Luis Potosí: drunkards, regulations, and cantinas (1925 & 1926)

Abstract

During the post-revolutionary period, authorities established policies of centralization and order in order to legitimize the regime that the caudillos sought during the first half of the twentieth century. In order to carry out the institutionalization of society within the national project, it was first necessary to moralize the population through campaigns or regulations against what was considered immoral. But what was considered immoral? According to the authorities of the time, immorality was represented by prostitution, drug addiction, and the consumption of alcoholic beverages. The latter became a matter of particular interest for the administration of Aurelio Manrique in San Luis Potosí, who declared his intention to eradicate alcoholism in the state through a regulation published in 1923. For this reason, this article focuses on the implementation of the regulation aimed at combating alcoholism in the city of San Luis Potosí, the location of establishments that sold alcoholic beverages, the taxes they paid, and, finally, the crimes committed by individuals who were under the effects of excessive alcohol consumption.