Denmark to restrict sale of alcohol to young people

Denmark is to restrict the sale of alcohol to under-18s and increase the price of suckable nicotine sachets, as their growing popularity is worrying health authorities, the Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday.

“Children and young people are starting to drink far too early and they are drinking too much”, said the Minister for the Interior and Health, Sophie Løhde, at a press conference. 

She also deplored the fact that young people were consuming more and more snus, a tobacco product which comes in the form of nicotine sachets that can be sucked.

To counter these phenomena, the sale of drinks containing more than 6% alcohol will be banned for 16-18 year-olds, who until now have been allowed to buy drinks containing up to 16.5%.

No ‘seductive’ flavours

In addition, the tax on nicotine sachets to be sucked on will be doubled, increasing the price of packets by an average of 12 crowns (€1.6), making it equivalent to that of a packet of cigarettes.

It will also be forbidden to offer “seductive” aromas and flavours in tobacco replacement products”, the ministry said.

According to the National Health Authority, 22% of 15-year-old girls and 27% of 15-year-old boys drink on a weekly basis.

In 2019, a study by ESPAD (European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs) estimated that 40% of young Danes aged 15-16 had been drunk in the previous 30 days, the highest proportion in Europe, where the average is 13%.