Germany’s health minister wants to introduce restrictions on the ease of access of young people to alcohol, as the country’s youth are the main drinkers from a very young age.

It is a first that makes German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach anything but proud. Young people drink a lot. Until fainting. It takes the lead at the European level in the relevant list, as pointed out by Albert Thomasius, head of the child and youth addiction treatment center at the University Clinic in Hamburg: “Nowhere is there as much abuse leading to intoxication as in Germany. An important result is alcohol poisoning that leads to admissions to hospitals or even pediatric clinics to treat the symptoms.”

Aiming for a drink with a companion

Every year 2,000 children under 15 arrive at the emergency room with toxic levels of alcohol in their blood.

In Germany, 18-year-olds are allowed to buy any alcohol and drink it in public. At the age of 16 or 17, they are already allowed to buy and drink beer or wine. And 14 and over can enjoy a beer as long as they are accompanied by their parents. This so-called “complimentary drinking” has now been targeted by the Ministry of Health.

The reasoning behind this decision is not at all random as the studies cited by the scientists explain: “Those who start drinking early have a much greater chance of developing an addiction than those who start at an older age.”

Beer and wine are considered something of a tradition as a cultural good. Something that Toya Dibel finds unacceptable. Since November 2018 she has decided to use her influence as an Influencerin and has started a fight to limit the easy access of young people to alcohol.

“Alcohol is a drug. It’s certainly legal but that doesn’t make it any less dangerous. It bothers me how our society deals with the issue. Germans grow up with alcohol. Adults can of course drink, but what bothers me is that you can find it everywhere and very easily” he argues with a hint of anger.

A powerful lobby

In addition to the bans, the government seeks to take more effective measures in terms of prevention. Something that politicians and experts point out is dangerously overdue. For Tomasius, the problem is of course that opposite is a powerful industry with a full quiver.

“The biggest enemy of prevention is the alcohol industry which has a very strong lobby even in political decision-making bodies for many years,” he says characteristically.

It remains to be seen whether politics will finally be able to take the crucial step. Better information, restrictions on sales, higher taxation are the measures proposed by those who believe that the 1.6 million officially alcoholics in the country are a thorn that threatens the whole society with dangerous side effects.