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Health leaders respond to drinking issues

Wisconsinites responded Wednesday to the report released this week showing the state has the highest rate in the nation of driving under the influence of alcohol.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, more than one in four Wisconsinites drove under the influence of alcohol in the past year, and the next highest rates all fell in other Northern and Midwestern states.

“This report highlights the enormous public health risk posed by this problem — one threatening the lives of many Americans every day,” SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline, Ph.D., said in a statement.

Illinois, Iowa and Michigan also placed among the 20 highest rates, but Utah showed a rate below one in 10. States in the Deep South, where abstinence from alcohol is more common, lingered just higher.

“I’m not surprised,” said Richard Brown, a UW professor in public health and family medicine. “Wisconsin also shows high rates of risky drinking, heavy drinking and drinking in pregnant women.”

Brown added there is a cultural background of alcohol in Midwestern settlers from Germany, Ireland and other countries where beer and other alcohol use is common.

“It has to do with Badger pride,” said Paul Moberg, senior scientist in the Population Health Institute at UW and co-author of a 2007 study on Wisconsin’s alcohol and drug use patterns. “We’ve got a long-standing tradition of heavy alcohol use.”

According to Moberg, alcohol consumption depends on affordability, accessibility and attractiveness, and Wisconsin’s alcohol culture embodies all three.

Taxes on alcohol in Wisconsin are the second lowest in the nation, and have not been raised for many years. A source of jest among cheeseheads, Brewers fans and Dane Cook fans, beer is nearly as cheap as soda in the Badger State.

“The issue is, is this something to be proud of?” Moberg asked.

According to Brown, raising the state tax on tobacco products in the past year has cut down on smoking and increased demand for programs to help smokers quit.

Brown and Moberg suggested raising a tax on alcohol as a possible way to resolve Wisconsin’s drunken driving problem.

Brown added Wisconsin is the only state in the country where the first drunken driving incident is not a criminal offense.

“I don’t think this is a message we want to be sending,” Brown said. “It only takes one time drinking and driving to kill someone — how is that not a criminal offense?”

However, despite research that changing this to a criminal offense could reduce drunken driving, Brown said there is little legislative support to change this.

Meanwhile, incidence of driving under the influence of alcohol has decreased dramatically.

“There is a cultural understanding in Europe that you should not drive when you’ve had more than one drink,” Moberg said. “We don’t have that here.”

Resource Center on Impaired Driving Director Nina Emerson said comparing the problem of drunken driving in Europe and the United States is an issue of apples and oranges.

Emerson added most European countries are not as car-dependent as the U.S., and in some places there are better public transportation systems.

According to Brown, improving alternatives to driving for Americans could help resolve the problem of drunken driving.