Beer and wine are innate to Germany's cultural identity, yet 1.6 million people living in the country are addicted to alcohol. Social media influencer Toyah Diebel thinks that needs to change, so she began by changing herself. In November 2018, she quit alcohol and sent a message to her more than 90,000 followers: "Alcohol is just not cool!"

"Alcohol is a drug. It might be legal, but that doesn't make it any less dangerous," she told DW. "I'm disturbed by how our society deals with it. Germans grow up with alcohol — I'd almost say it's in our DNA. It's considered good form to drink alcohol, even starting at a very young age because it's trivialized and has been normalized."

In Germany, 18-year-olds can purchase any kind of alcohol and drink it in public spaces. Moreover, 16- and 17-year-olds can buy and drink beer and wine. Even as young as 14, young people are allowed to drink beer in their parents' presence — so-called "accompanied drinking." That legislation has long been problematic for German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who wants to amend the Youth Protection Act to abolish "accompanied drinking."

But Diebel believes that "accompanied drinking" is not Germany's biggest problem. She thinks politicians should focus on those who drink at a young age without their parents present. Although the statistics show that children and young people in Germany are consuming less and less alcohol, one figure is still worrying: Every year almost 2,000 people under the age of 15 end up in hospital emergency rooms due to alcohol poisoning.

"How do they get hold of alcohol so easily?" she wonders. Diebel knows that young people want to experiment........

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