The Polyglot Petition for Home Protection was the first world-wide proclamation against the manufacturing and international trade in liquor and drugs as well as the prohibition of legalised vice.

Addressed to all rulers and nations of the world, this petition to adopt prohibition was written by the American Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) president Frances Willard in 1884.

[5] The signed petitions were presented to many sovereign leaders, including to the U.S. President Grover Cleveland in February 1885 and to Great Britain's Queen Victoria in June 1895.

The nations most impacted by prohibition enactments were the Nordic countries (the Faroe Islands 1907–1992; Sweden 1914–1955; Iceland 1915–1922; Norway 1916–1927; and, Finland 1919–1932), the United States (1920–1933), Canada (1901–1948), and the Russian Empire/USSR (1914–1925).

Many nations continue to levy a so-called “sin” tax on alcohol and certain legalized narcotics such as tobacco products, as well as protecting children from having access.