Danes question drinking culture as young people grapple with health effects

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (CN) — Experts, school representatives, parents and health professionals are sounding a collective alarm about youth drinking in Denmark.

A national survey of schoolchildren showed that many students drink on a weekly basis. More than a thousand people under age 25 sought professional treatment for alcohol addiction in 2022 — compared with 622 five years earlier. In December, TV 2 aired a national documentary called ”Drunk Children," depicting 14- to 17-year-olds drinking excessively at public events.

The public debate coincided with the Danish government presenting a new set of policies and preventive measures on young people’s alcohol consumption. 

Courthouse News also reported on parallel debates over the increased circulation of medical opioids in the country.

According to Andreas, a 22-year-old recovered alcoholic, a national conversation about alcohol is fundamental, especially because most people start drinking at a very young age. He was overwhelmed and worried by the out-of-control drinking he saw on the TV 2 documentary.

“Fortunately, a lot of people start speaking publicly about the value of becoming clean or sober. It is important because they act as role models,” he said.

Andreas had his first beer at 13 and became “instantly addicted,” he said. For eight years, he drank almost every day, and it became a battle of life and death.

He had various stays at rehabilitation centers, relapsing into weeklong binges in between.  

“I became really depressed when trying to stop. Constantly irritable and sad, with frequent flares of anxiety,” he said.

After he was hospitalized with an irregular heart beat, he finally managed to enroll in an Alcoholics Anonymous program. AA helped him get the most out of soberness, he said, and today he has a wife and job prospects.

Danish youngsters have long been the booziest in Europe. As many as 40% of 15- and 16-year-olds have been drunk within the last 30 days, against an average of 13% for Europe, a study by the nongovernmental organization Alcohol and Society says. According to Southern Denmark University, one in five adults consumes enough alcohol to damage their health.

At Alcohol and Society, General Manager Ida Fabricius Bruun said that the nation also ranks high in binge drinking. She noted that in Denmark, alcohol plays an important part in a lot of communities and social gatherings.

However, Alcohol and Society has seen a recent trend both of young people seeking early help and a general “sober curiousness” in society, as more people become aware of bad alcohol habits or experiment with sobriety, either periodically or permanently. 

The big problem, said Bruun, is that laws remain too lax.

“Liquor is very accessible everywhere. You can buy it in regular supermarkets at any time of the hour, and the prices remain low, as politicians haven’t adjusted tax for years. Our age limit is 16 years. And there are very few rules for branding the products,” she said. 

In November 2023, the Danish Parliament presented its new alcohol-abuse prevention plan.

While it addresses issues from electronic age verification to drinking culture at schools to forbidding 16- and 17-year-olds from buying hard liquor, it does not include a total ban on sales to people under 18.

Despite broad public backing for such a prohibition, Minister of Health Sophie Løhde argued that it is naïve to assume that a ban could solve teenagers’ intense consumption, as they will just “find a way to circumvent” the rules.  

Currently, around a fifth of all Danish male teenagers and young adults binge drink — defined as having five or more drinks in a single sitting — every week. The number is slightly lower for girls.

Oliver Larsen, another young ex-addict who spoke with Courthouse News, said he began drinking as a 13-year-old. By seventh grade, the wild parties started, and he was quickly drawn into a culture of heavy drinking before he was mature enough to handle it.

“I was like the little shy and scared kid inside. But drinking allowed me to get rid of the fear of how other people saw me,” he said, noting that he quickly sought out “crazy environments” to escape reality more often.

In his view, Denmark needs more initiatives to curb heavy alcohol consumption.

“We have an insane drinking culture. I think it gets worse because of the high expectations to perform well and be skilled. It is a hard pressure,” Larsen added. He knows several other young addicts who have sought treatment.

For him, the answer was an intense and yearlong 12-step treatment process offered for free by the municipality. It brought him “back to life,” he said. Today, he works as a janitor at the same facility, also offering help and support to other struggling youngsters.

In the wake of recent debates, teenagers have come forward to voice their issues with alcohol in the media. Even though a majority do not have a hardcore physical addiction like Andreas and Oliver, they still experience long-term social and mental side effects.

According to Katrine Quorning, an influencer and author on the topic of sober curiousness, people have started questioning the idea that alcohol is a mandatory part of social situations.

She noted more interest in the “idea of partially quitting alcohol or simply taking longer breaks,” and saw a link with a general tendency to question social norms and expectations.

“Reflection about alcohol and its consequences is at the forefront. And people do it for individual reasons. But the common denominator is a profound critique of the fact that not drinking often leads to exclusion,” Quorning said.

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit