Actor André Eisermann (“Sleeping Brother”) believes the discussion about a cannabis ban at folk festivals is exaggerated. “Smoking weed at the fair should now be banned in many places – especially in Bavaria. Because of the children, they say,” said Eisermann, who grew up in a family of carnies and as a child went to fairgrounds with his parents, told the German Press Agency .
“So – I didn’t become an alcoholic, even though I was surrounded day and night by extreme drunks who drank themselves unconscious en masse in beer tents with a “Cheers to Coziness”.” Eisermann said in Worms that he had doubts that there would be “as much smoking as there was drinking” at folk festivals and beer gardens. “There was always trouble in the squares because of alcohol. Lots of fights, lots of ambulances – because of the alcohol consumed. What do children have to suffer as a result of alcohol consumption – and the resulting violence in the family!”
Double standards are a problem
The 56-year-old said that the experts whose voices he had heard would say that such things cannot be expected from cannabis. “And I don’t think that clouds of smoke are now rising over all the folk festivals.” Eisermann emphasized that he did not want to advertise cannabis under any circumstances and was critical of partial legalization.
“But to demonize smoking weed and trivialize drinking at the same time is simply unprofessional for many who are familiar with showmanship.” Eisermann became known with the award-winning literary adaptations “Kaspar Hauser” (1993) and “Schlafes Bruder” (1995). “My career began at the age of four, on the stage in the beer tent, among striptease dancers and mouse swallowers,” he once said.
