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.