“Drinking normal, smoking weed soon legal: Is Germany on the wrong trip?” Unfortunately, “Hart aber fair” is currently not one of those TV formats that are addictive!
Frankfurt – For the third time Louis Klamroth got into the ring on Tuesday evening (January 23), which Frank Plasberg had left after 21 years of “hard but fair” moderation at the end of 2022 – and also struggled in the third “fight” with difficulty Round. Although he (and his editors) had chosen a topic that, in the face of more explosive crises, was not yet so hot on the public’s nails and therefore did not promise any major outbursts of emotion in the panel discussion.
Accordingly, it was also occupied by rather “nice” contemporaries, which of course accommodated Klamroth’s “harmless”, not to say boring moderation style. On the other hand, this fit, albeit in a contrary sense, with the topic of the show, which was also about addiction: “Hard but fair” is certainly not one of those TV formats that are addictive at the moment!
“Hard but fair”: The guests on the topic “Drinking normal, smoking weed soon legal”
Last night in the ARD The following guests at “Hart aber Fair” :
- Prof. Dr. Karl Lauterbach(SPD), Federal Health Minister
- Nathalie Stüben, podcaster and journalist, author “Without alcohol. The best decision of my life”
- dr. Sabine Ahrens-Eipperchild and adolescent psychologist
- Markus Blume (CSU), Bavarian Minister of State for Science and Art
- Curly Howardrapper, songwriter and podcast host
“Hard but fair” on ARD: Karl Lauterbach fills the audience with technical terms
11 crates of beer, 28 bottles of wine, 4 bottles of sparkling wine and 5 liters of schnapps – that’s the amount of alcohol built up in the studio that every German drinks on average per year.
Markus Blume doesn’t see himself in the same boat, Curly Howard and Karl Lauterbach out themselves as hedonists who don’t want the wine to be banned, even though they accept some health risks (“every glass of alcohol is cancer-promoting”). On the other hand, a glass of red wine is definitely “healthy” for heart and circulatory diseases. Lauterbach also points to social change: alcohol consumption has steadily decreased in recent decades.
The times when every second man got drunk once a month are over. And the bad habit that he himself experienced as a youth in a sports club, when people were introduced to alcohol after the games, is a thing of the past. Of course, our chief epidemiologist insists on bombarding us with medical terms that also leave Klamroth speechless and let him flee to the reference to the fact check. Asking would have been more helpful.
“Hard but fair” (ARD): archyde news ban for alcohol demanded
Nathalie Stüben is very clear in her statements about her overcome alcohol addiction: “Alcohol is harmful from the first drop. But addiction is only one of 200 illnesses that it can trigger.” And she is vehemently demanding that politicians ban the of alcohol, restrict availability and raise prices. Sabine Ahrens-Eipper agrees and points in particular to the effect on young people, who are sold alcohol consumption as “cool”.
When Klamroth provokes Markus Blume with the question of whether conscious use of alcohol in the beer tent is even possible, things get a little more excited in the group. The bridge to the legalization of cannabis has been built and the conflicting ideas in the drug policy of the government coalition and the opposition are coming to light, leading above all to skirmishes between Lauterbach and Blume (“drinking is no legitimation for smoking weed”).
Blume sees the planned draft law as part of the federal government’s participation in the drug market, with which she wants to overtake the failed drug policy in the Netherlands to the left. And he reminds Lauterbach of his obligation as the responsible minister to protect the health of the population. “With such a serious topic, you won’t get anywhere with a political hit song,” counters Lauterbach and reminds him that although alcohol consumption has fallen in Bavaria, cannabis consumption has increased.
“Hard but fair” in the ARD: Karl Lauterbach promises improvements
Sabine Ahrens-Eipper also demands objectivity: “Investigations have shown that the percentage of young people using drugs has not increased after the legalization of drugs. It would be much more important to provide psychological support to adolescents who smoke weed. But health insurers only pay for 10 treatments.”
She addresses Lauterbach directly to this grievance – and the minister promises to rectify it. But that too becomes clear on this evening: legalization is trailing a rat’s tail of problems. How do you dry up drug hotspots like Görlitzer Park in Berlin? When do you start with the enlightenment: already in elementary school or only with young people? Harsh penalties for selling cannabis to children and young people. “And how do you protect children from passive smoking if their parents use drugs at home or in the car,” Sabine Ahrens-Eipper interjects with concern.
“HJart but fair” from 23 January
“Drinking normal, smoking weed soon legal: is Germany on the wrong trip?” The show in the ARD media library
Lauterbach promises not to take the Netherlands but the Canadian model as a model: licensed companies for cannabis production and sale, no online trading and prices that make dealing unattractive. Our rapper wistfully remembers his youth when he was still able to buy drugs legally in Switzerland – and insists that he doesn’t get supplies in Görlitzer Park, but constantly flies to Los Angeles to stock up legally.
“Hard but fair” (ARD): Moderator Klamroth has no idea what he’s getting at
While Curly Howard is one of those laid-back stoners who see no problem in legalization, the voice of the people gathered by Brigitte Büscher is divided: Although 4.5 million 18- to 65-year-olds regularly take drugs, many stoners guess on their own , negative experiences from legalization.
For the state, however, legalization could not only pay off in terms of controllable education and prevention: it would generate 4.7 billion euros a year and create 27,000 new jobs.
All topics that were ticked off rather quickly than discussed intensively – and certainly not provocatively – that evening. But for that you also need a moderator who has some idea of what he’s getting at. Maybe it will work in the next round of talks: After all, a boxing match has twelve rounds! (Rolf Ruediger Hamacher)