It is not every day that a state minister is at the top of the Germany-wide Twitter trends. A prime minister like Markus Söder, of course, but Klaus Holetschek (CSU), Bavaria’s health minister? That’s what happened now, in the top German hashtags in the social network he even ranked first for a while. Wait a minute, Holetschek wasn’t there. But: #Alkoholetschek. About a hasthag and its history.
An SZ text first described how Holetschek spearheaded the fight against cannabis legalization in the state government and CSU. In short intervals, he asks the traffic lights in Berlin to desist from their project – most recently when Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said in a public dialogue that he knew people who “weed their brains out”. It was already mentioned in the text that cannabis friends often counter that CSU politicians are “beer lobbyists” and downplay alcohol; usually garnished with folk festival photos from Bavaria.
And that’s exactly what came in bulk, many photos of Holetschek with a jug or glass were seen on Twitter and in the dynamic someone came up with the hashtag #Alkoholetschek. Bringing the term to number one in the Twitter charts is “top #Weedmob duty”, it was also read, so there were countless, sometimes quite crude tweets. The Weedmob, in turn, forms regularly. Recently, used thousands of times: #VolkerAmZug. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing should therefore change the THC limit values in road traffic.
Asked, what does Holetschek have to say about this? “Puns don’t solve problems. It’s really a shame that many cannabis advocates rely on insults instead of arguments. A factual debate on Twitter is unfortunately not possible.” The minister continues to emphasize that “no one can seriously deny that cannabis is a major health risk”.