According to a report released by the UW-Madison Police Department, less UW students are going to detox than at this time last year.
To date, 120 students have made the fateful journey, while last year only 135 students had.
Madison Police Sergeant Ron Webster said students get sent to a hospital emergency room for detox if they are incapacitated due to alcohol.
“If a person is unable to make decisions affecting their own safety or the safety of others, they will be taken into protective custody,” Webster said. “If you’ve had too much to drink and are stumbling and too blasted to respond to police questioning, it is pure and simple — you are going to detox.”
Although the numbers are down, they are still too high for the liking of representatives of the RWJ Project and university officials.
“120 people is still too high,” RWJ spokesman Aaron Brower said. “It’s nice to see it is lower than last year, but that is just too many people.”
The RWJ Project is a program coordinated between the American Medical Association and University Health Services aimed at changing campus and community cultures that result in high-risk drinking.
According to the UW Police Department, while the number of students taken to detox is down, the level of intoxication among these students is higher this year than last year. So far this year 17 students have been taken from UW residence halls to detox with blood alcohol levels in excess of .20.
UW Police Chief Susan Riseling has been recording the levels of intoxication and the situations that result in the individual being sent to detox for all patients received.
“It is really disturbing to read about people passed out in bushes or puddles of their own vomit or stuffed into bathrooms nearly dead,” Brower said. “I think the greater level of intoxication is a big concern.”
UW Chancellor John D. Wiley has also commented on the drinking problem in the campus community on his personal website.
“The problem is more serious and has a greater impact than many realize or are willing to admit or address,” he said. “As a result, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, we are focusing on changing the environment, not individuals, as a way of reducing this problem.”
One student recalled a story about his friend getting sent to detox.
“My friend came down from the Twin Cities and got really wasted,” UW senior Jeff Drop said. “He was doubled over and puking all over the street outside the city when the cops came and dragged him off to detox.”
Dropp went on to say that although his friend didn’t remember anything of the night before, he was angry about waking up with a large hospital bill to pay for.
“He was really mad that they took him to detox; after all, he is from Wisconsin,” Dropp said. “But he got them back by stealing a bunch of towels and a bed-pan from a cart in the hall.”
