A culture of beer guzzling and tossing back liquor beyond the average U.S. citizen contributes to a host of problems, including drunken driving, Sauk County officials say, but they feel their efforts to combat those effects can be successful.
Wisconsinites tend to find comfort in their ability to drink to excess, said Sauk County Health Strategist Sara Jesse.
“Wisconsin has a culture of drinking excessively,” Jesse said. “Our state often leads the nation in heavy drinking, binge drinking and driving under the influence.”
The trend only worsened during the pandemic, emphasized by the 20% increase in alcohol sales between 2020 and 2021, Jesse said.
“As Wisconsinites, we seem to take perverse pride in these statistics,” Jesse said. “But the toll of excessive drinking is enormous.”
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There is a level of comfort which has kept people from talking about how negative binge drinking can be, Jesse said. Binge drinking is defined by men having five or more drinks per occasion and women having four or more drinks per occasion.
“It’s so hard for people in recovery to avoid alcohol here,” Jesse said. “It’s extremely difficult for people in recovery, and we hear it from them that they would really appreciate sober events or sections of events that could be alcohol free.”
It would require a cultural change to ensure people have that support, Jesse said.
One way organizers aim to create this shift is through programs. The Sauk County Partnership for Prevention Coalition was established in 2017 to help reduce youth access to alcohol via compliance checks through a partnership with law enforcement. Another facet of that work is focusing on adult education to avoid alcohol being provided to teenagers. Party hosts can ensure there are non-alcoholic options at gatherings and parents can be “good role models” for children by drinking responsibly.
Another program is a local collaboration with nonprofit organization WisHope based in the Milwaukee and Waukesha area focused on helping people in recovery from their homes. The program provides a supportive peer coach to visit anyone who needs help dealing with alcohol abuse. A coalition organized through the Sauk County Public Health Department is currently working to create a board run by people with substance abuse issues for people with those same issues.
“It’s all these little steps,” Jesse said.
Another program aimed at helping people in recovery who have a history of substance abuse is the Sauk County Adult Treatment Court.
Justice Diversion and Support Programs Manager Amanda Hanson oversees the program, which began as a drug treatment court in January 2016 before accepting individuals charged with a fourth-offense OWI in August 2018.
“I would say for OWI individuals, it is pretty successful,” Hanson said.
So far, 12 participants with OWI charges have graduated. Two have been arrested since then, but not on any substance abuse charges, Hanson said. The designation of operating while intoxicated can include drivers under the influence of illegal drugs rather than, or in addition to, alcohol. Two participants were accepted in 2022, with one waiting to start. In total, four cases have been slated for the program this year.
The program, which can span 14 to 24 months depending on the individual, has two tracks. Some go through the program to deal with alcohol abuse. Others for drug addiction. Unfortunately, Hanson said, some people struggle with both.
“It’s an intensive program,” Hanson said. “We do the surveys after people graduate and they all will agree that it’s hard at the very beginning because they’re juggling trying to be in society with their addiction and not necessarily having safe environments when they first start. But toward the end, they start flourishing.”
All of that involvement from both police and the court system can also be a drain on finances.
A 2019 report titled “The Burden of Binge Drinking in Wisconsin” conducted by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute estimated the economic impact of binge drinking in Sauk County was nearly $42 million annually. Which means every resident, whether they take part in drinking alcohol, carries a tax cost of $667 per year for every person within the county. The rest, roughly $17 million, is paid by the government, Jesse said.
The cost is in lost productivity, the expense of law enforcement, healthcare and other areas.
“The opioid epidemic has rightly gotten a lot of attention, but far more people are suffering from alcohol use disorders,” Jesse said. “It affects the whole family and everyone is paying the cost of the individual addiction.”
A 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted throughout five Sauk County school districts found 1 in 3 high school students had their first alcoholic drink before age 13. According to the CDC, the early initiation of drinking is associated with the development of an alcohol use disorder, binge drinking or alcohol abuse, later in life.
Like Jesse, Hanson said participants and graduates express a desire for more help in their everyday lives to avoid alcohol, like sober events.
For those with OWIs, part of the issue is the amount of infractions an individual is allowed before prison time is mandatory. In much of the country, a first offense of drunken driving is a felony, but in Wisconsin, it usually involves a fine and the temporary suspension of the person’s driver’s license, though they can apply to drive for necessities, like work and grocery shopping.
A recent shift in state statute moved the felony designation from a fifth offense to a fourth offense, which is the only case accepted into Adult Treatment Court. The state may shift to making a third offense a felony in 2023, Hanson said. The mandatory imprisonment can be a motivator for some, Hanson said, who have been convicted of multiple offenses.
“We recognize that it’s a problem,” Hanson said. “Especially in the state of Wisconsin.”
The program could be even more beneficial if more everyday residents knew it exists or what leaders seek to achieve by providing means to those in recovery.
“The community doesn’t know a lot about our program still,” Hanson said. “Anytime I try to meet with people, just really encouraging them to even come see treatment court or seeing what individuals are doing to change their lives, and how we, as a community, can support these individuals so they have better success once they’re done with our program.”
It can be difficult to ensure that success in a small, rural city and county, where people have fewer resources, Hanson said, and access to housing and transportation is less available.
“There’s nothing like support,” Hanson said. “We’re trying to support these individuals as much as we can, but we want them to have external support systems too.”
There are no plans to discontinue the program either, Hanson said, as the issue of substance abuse persists in Wisconsin and in Sauk County.
“It’s a tough cookie, what else can I say,” Hanson said. “But it’s worth it in the end if we have one person that comes through our program and changes their life around completely.”
