- To health news and proof that a number one ranking
is not always a good thing.
A survey released this week in USA Today
ranks Wisconsin as the number one drunkest state
in the nation.
The study examines excessive drinking,
which according to the CDC, is defined as four or more drinks
on a single occasion for women and five or more for men.
The CDC reports that 18% of American adults
regularly consume unhealthy amounts of alcohol.
In Wisconsin, that number is 26.2%.
It's no wonder that seven of the top ten drunkest cities
in the U.S. are in Wisconsin, including the top four.
Green Bay is the nation's hardest-drinking city,
where the excessive drinking rate tops
even the state average at 26.5%.
Eau Claire is the second hardest-drinking city
in the country, with a 26.2% excessive drinking rate.
Appleton comes in at number three, also with 26.2%.
Some explain Madison's number four ranking due to a large
college population.
The Madison rate is 25.9%.
Wisconsin gets a reprieve at the number five slot.
That's reserved for Fargo, North Dakota,
which over drinks at a 25.2% rate.
Oshkosh brings Wisconsin back to the mix at number six.
That's where 24.5% are excessive drinkers.
The number seven and eight drunkest places are Missoula,
Montana and Grand Forks, North Dakota.
The top ten is rounded out with Wisconsin cities,
Wausau at number nine and La Crosse at number ten.
Year after year, Wisconsin takes the lead in binge drinking.
The popular explanation?
Everything from our history of beer-making to lax drunk driving
laws and number of bars and liquor licenses,
even allowing children to drink in bars with their parents'
permission.
But what do the experts say causes Wisconsinites to drink to
excess to the extent that no other state keeps pace?
We talk with Jim Pearson, clinical team leader at Journey
Mental Health in Madison, a service provider in Dane County.
Thanks very much for being here.
- Thank you for inviting me.
- So when you see these numbers again, what's your reaction?
- Well, I think it points to, again,
just acceptance and a culture in Wisconsin
that fun equals drinking.
You see in many of the festivals that happen in Wisconsin
and especially in college towns,
where it just becomes synonymous.
If you're going to do something on a weekend,
alcohol is involved.
- What are your thoughts on whether or not
there's kind of a connection to our brewery culture
going way back to the 1800s and our drinking behavior?
- Well, that has been a story Wisconsin has told itself
for a number of years.
And so it doesn't matter how true it is or not at this point.
It just exists.
And because of that, there is just a long-term connection to
that that many people just accept that it's fact.
- I was reading that some ten years ago,
that UW had a hefty grant from the CDC
to help curb binge drinking.
Why don't these efforts work?
- Well, I don't know exactly where that grant money went to,
but I can say that if you actually look at the stats,
that binge drinking among high school students has actually
declined, but among adults it has increased,
and that's concerning because those are the individuals that
are most likely to be on the road and putting us and others
at risk when they are doing that.
- What can be done in your estimation?
- Many of the efforts that they started,
and maybe it was even that grant that helped promote it
initially, was trying to promote research that said that if
we increase alcohol taxes, that that can have
a significant impact.
And other states have done this, which is why Wisconsin remains
on the top of these lists.
And beer tax has not changed since 1969.
So next year will be 50 years of no change to that excise tax.
And other states are just surpassing us in this and
actually taking concrete, research-based steps
that can have an impact.
- Now, in your practice is alcohol the most prevalent
addiction even as this state, as others do,
are grappling with opioids?
- Well, Journey has been around for 70 years.
It has 28 different programs.
If we look at the spectrum of all those programs, yes,
alcohol is probably the number one that people are most
struggling with in their use.
- And yet you suggested, too, that there's kind of
a relationship between people trying to get off opioids
and then entering back into the culture of drinking
in Wisconsin.
What is that?
- Yeah, you can imagine.
So in our drug court program, over 90% present with an opioid
use disorder and we're successful at connecting them to
treatment and getting them really started
in their recovery.
But living in a culture such as Wisconsin,
where drinking is just a part of everything,
they really do struggle with that connection of now I need
to address my alcohol use.
Or maybe I can have a drink.
They just question that.
And it starts out maybe they can at the beginning.
But as their drinking progresses and leads to poor choices or
decisions they later regret,
they run back right into their opioid addiction.
And unfortunately we hear that time and time again.
In our program we do our best to catch it early and address it.
But then they have to come to some acceptance
of that themselves, too.
- Okay. Jim Pearson, thanks very much.
- Thank you very much for your time.