In the U.S, it can be argued that it was profiteers that dismantled prohibition. Not society. They’ve pushed the message that “prohibition can’t work” ever since.

How can it work? The most glorious criminal job possible is being a rumrunner, alcohol came custom designed to be an agent of chaos and I don't see how trying to deny that won't just backfire. In my experience growing up the drinking age laws in the US only made things far more dangerous as people drinking under age, it did LITERALLY NOTHING to stop our access to alcohol while making it cooler and more edgey in a way that supercharged our desire to access it.