The Union attacks the Greens for demanding that the availability of alcohol and tobacco be restricted in the future. “Just in time for the good New Year’s resolutions, the Greens are reviving classic ban fantasies,” criticizes the CDU health politician Tino Sorge. “Make access to tobacco and alcohol more difficult, but make the illegal drug cannabis widely available – the contradictions in the traffic light could hardly be greater.”
“In the coalition, you are no longer sure which drugs are good and which are bad,” said Sorge WELT. At the latest in the parliamentary procedure, the traffic light will fail on its own: “The FDP will not support the far-reaching ban fantasies of the Greens.”
“The traffic light’s drug and addiction policy is completely deadlocked between ideology and ideas of prohibition, unrealistic goals and economically questionable demands,” said the CDU politician. Experiences from other countries confirmed that advertising bans and high taxes are no guarantee for lower consumption. “The supposedly simplest means are not the most effective.”
Regulations on the consumption of alcohol and tobacco must primarily be measured against the reality of life. The fact that young people are informed about alcohol in the protected environment of their parents has proven itself many times over. “When a teenager has their first beer with their father, it’s always better than a film tear at a party.”
It would make much more sense than categorical bans if the traffic light coalition would substantially promote mass sport at the end of the corona pandemic. This would have an immediate and lasting effect on the health of the population.
In addition, the offers for early education and prevention must be expanded. In schools, sports clubs and on social media, the clear message must be: “Alcohol and tobacco are absolutely harmful and should only be enjoyed in moderation, ideally not at all.” The controls at sales outlets must also be implemented more consistently.
Linda Heitmann, rapporteur on drug and addiction policy for the Greens in the Bundestag, had previously spoken out in favor of restricting the availability of legal addictive substances. Heitmann told WELT: “We need a general rethinking of legal drugs in order to deal with these substances more responsibly. We need to change the availability and ‘cool factor’ of addictive substances.”
“Especially with regard to alcohol, there have been hardly any restrictions so far, but the law of the free market applies almost without restrictions – with easy availability at many points of sale, moderate pricing of many products and hardly any rules for advertising and marketing,” says Heitmann. “The way we deal with alcohol as a society will probably only change significantly if we turn and start with these adjustment screws. We also have to discuss whether cigarettes and e-cigarettes simply have to be available around the clock from vending machines, in supermarkets and petrol stations.”
Whether or not to enjoy alcohol should be “a personal value decision” for adults, rather than “always and everywhere being a matter of course,” Heitmann continued. “That’s why I think tax increases for alcohol make sense in principle.”
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