Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and a member of Madison’s Alcohol License Review Committee announced a new test Wednesday that will aid in the rehabilitation of repeat drunk drivers.
The new test, called “biomarkers,” is able to detect heavy alcohol consumption in recent weeks, an improvement compared to many currently popular tests, which could only trace alcohol use in the last 24 hours.
ALRC member Pamela Bean, who helped to develop and introduce the technology, approached Falk with results of a pilot program in Waukesha County, Falk spokesperson Joshua Wescott said.
Biomarker blood tests will be used in the rehabilitation of those who have been arrested for at least a third OWI offense and are going through state-required assessments.
“I think it’s wonderful; they are doing something that is necessary,” Bean said.
Dane County provided $15,000 in funding to kick off the new initiative, Wescott said.
Drunk driving is a significant problem in Dane County, Dane County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Elise Schaffer said.
“In the Dane County jail, 52 percent of sentenced inmates are there for driving drunk,” Wescott said.
Wescott said 40 percent of fatal accidents in the county involve alcohol. He added a person is three to four times more likely to be killed by a drunk driver than to be murdered in Dane County.
At Wednesday’s announcement, Bean said there have even been instances where patients had been consuming alcohol and telling staff they had not been. When they were confronted with the positive biomarker result however, they admitted to they had in fact been drinking.
“It’s a blood test that looks at an enzyme in the blood. After heavy drinking, the enzymes remain in the blood for weeks,” Wescott said.
Wescott said the $15,000 is enough to fund the first year of testing and assessments. After one year, the program will be evaluated and, if deemed successful, hopefully continued.
Bean said the technology is currently used in many European countries, including Italy and Norway, and in Sweden it has been written into law.
Wescott said he thinks the test offers the opportunity to evaluate whether patients are “truly recovering and truly reforming.”
