Alcohol addiction in Germany: « Advertising should be prohibited »

Every day around 271 people in Germany die from the consequences of smoking and additional 129 due to excessive alcohol consumption. This is almost 150,000 deaths each year. This emerges from the « Yearbook Search 2025 », which the German Center for Addiction Questions (DHS) published on Thursday. The researchers speak of « avoidable deaths ». Because the Germans drink and smoke excessively.

About every fifth consumes too much alcohol and almost every tenth drinks in risky quantities, the report says. Nicotine consumption is also still widespread. Smell a good 30 percent of the population. And that has consequences. Not only for the consumers and their relatives. But also for the economy. Every year, alcohol consumption incurs almost 60 billion euros in economic follow -up costs. It is almost 100 billion in tobacco consumption.

High alcohol consumption: « The laws in Germany are far too lax »

Alcohol consumption recently decreased slightly. With a per capita consumption of 10.2 liters of pure alcohol, Germany is still well above the European average. In addition: Germany has as a member state of the World Health Organization (WHO) 2013 obliged to reduce alcohol consumption by ten percent by 2025. So far, however, the decline was only eight percent. This causes criticism. The WHO demands stricter rules from the coming Federal government.

« The laws in Germany are far too lax, » says Rüdiger Krech, director of health promotion at the WHO, our editorial team. « The beer tax is almost twice as high in other countries, for example in Austria. And no such tax is levied on wine. » In hardly any other country, alcohol and tobacco is as cheap as in Germany.

« We know what helps. And those responsible also know it, » he says. « What is missing is the political will ». Krech demands that the tax increase to 75 percent of production prices. You would also have to start with public relations. « Advertising on alcohol would have to be banned. Germany is also an exceptional case here, » he says. « And alcohol should not be sold so freely in the supermarket. »

Bavaria wants to ban the so -called « accompanied drink »

The traffic light government actually wanted to tackle the topic. « We tighten the regulations for marketing and sponsorship in alcohol, nicotine and cannabis, » it said at the time in the coalition agreement. This was not implemented. The Federal Government’s drug officer did not comment on this on request. And similar self -commitments cannot be found in the current coalition agreement between the Union and SPD. « We take suitable prevention measures in order to protect children and adolescents in particular from everyday addiction, » it says only. Rüdiger Krech thinks this is inadequate. « Man doesn’t have to think that it was simply forgotten. There are powerful lobby interests behind it, » he says. « And in the end everyone suffers from it, for example from an overwhelmed health system and increasing contributions. »

In addition to the WHO, German politicians also demand stricter rules in advertising. « Alcohol has lost just as little at the supermarket fund between children’s sweeties as tobacco, » says Janosch Dahmen, spokesman for the Green Group for Health Policy, our editorial team. « It’s not about bans, but about reasonable regulation. » Bavarian Minister of Health Judith Gerlach proposes a different path. She wants to ban the so -called « accompanied drinking ». « With a view to our prevention goals, it makes no sense that young people between the ages of 14 and 16 are allowed to consume alcohol in bars or restaurants if they are accompanied by a person rightly. »