Potato schnapps
In the second half of the 19th century, potato schnapps was used to describe the harmful consumption of potato schnapps in Switzerland and Tyrol . In Germany one spoke of the brandy plague .
history
The Federal Constitution of 1874 introduced freedom of trade and commerce in Switzerland. This meant that there were no official restrictions on serving points. The inferior potato schnapps was produced in the small peasant distilleries in the arable cantons at that time . It served the rural poor and the working class as a food substitute and anesthetic. The powerlessness of the cantons in the fight against the potato schnapps was soon apparent, so that the federal government felt compelled to intervene. After a fierce referendum campaign, the people and the cantons adopted the new constitutional article on the "alcohol question" in October 1885, which was supposed to prevent this abuse. The Alcohol Act of 1887 was drafted in this spirit. The first alcohol regulation only concerned the potato brandy, but not the fruit, wine and berry distillery. It was not until 1930 that another article (32 bis) was added to the federal constitution, which now included all spirits .
literature
- Jana Mattei: Alcohol and criminal law: the fight against the dangers of a popular intoxicant. Diss. Innsbruck 2016, pp. 102–111 ( online , PDF [1.4 MB]).
See also
Web links
- Page no longer available , search in web archives: Website of the Federal Alcohol Administration on the history of the potato schnapps