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Al-Anon Alive 08/2010
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Admitted drunken driving leads nationWisconsin's culture of alcohol seen as factorCome to an Al-anon meeting if you are impacted by someone else's drinking or drugging. Ours, Easy Does It, meets every Friday night at 7:30 pm at the Pass It On Club. From the Journal Sentinel Posted: April 22, 2008Wisconsinites drive under the influence of alcohol - or, at least, admit to it - at a higher rate than the residents of any other state, a newly released federal study shows. More than 26% of Wisconsin adults 18 and older told government researchers in massive nationwide surveys that they had driven under the influence in the previous year. Not only was that the highest percentage of any state, it was more than 70% above the national average, 15.1%. The study is consistent with a host of data on drinking in Wisconsin, which is among the country's leaders in per-person consumption of alcohol and for years has had the country's lowest abstention rate. "I'm not shocked, I'm not surprised," Nina J. Emerson, director of the Resource Center on Impaired Driving at the University of Wisconsin Law School, said of the latest report. Nor did the finding startle Paul Moberg, senior scientist in the Population Health Institute at UW-Madison and co-author of a 2007 study on Wisconsin's alcohol and drug use patterns. "Not really," he said. "I think that's been what we've seen historically." Wisconsin's 26.4% rate of driving under the influence was nearly three times the 9.5% rate in the lowest-ranking state, Utah, where Mormon tenets frown upon drinking. Several states in the South, where abstinence is common, posted rates below 12%. One mild surprise in the latest data is the No. 3 ranking of Minnesota. Minnesota tends to come in well below Wisconsin on measures related to drinking. Most of the top 10 states for self-reported driving under the influence are in the Upper Midwest or Great Plains - more or less the nation's heartland for alcohol consumption. Both Moberg and Emerson pointed to a general acceptance of drinking in Wisconsin exceeding that in many other states. "I think it's something to do with the culture of Wisconsin and what the shared expectations are of behavior," Moberg said. "People who come from other states remark on it. Any event you go to (in Wisconsin) has alcohol." Wisconsin is "No. 1 or close on many of these indicators of adult alcohol use, and potentially risky use," he said. "And it's historically been that way." Emerson said Wisconsin's number of taverns and other alcohol outlets per person is more than three times greater than the national average. And drunken-driving laws here are relatively lenient, she said. But Emerson also said the widespread acceptance of drinking here might well make Wisconsin residents more likely than people elsewhere to answer honestly when asked about driving under the influence. Further, she said, the question that forms the basis for the latest survey results is a bit squishy - asking people if during the previous 12 months they had driven a vehicle while "under the influence" of alcohol. "That's pretty subjective," Emerson said. The data represent the combined results of surveys conducted in 2004, 2005 and 2006 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The agency is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. Nationwide, 127,283 drivers were surveyed. People also were asked if they had driven under the influence of illicit drugs. Nationally, 4.7% of drivers 18 and older said they had done so. Among Wisconsin residents, the rate was 5.3%. The highest percentage was in the District of Columbia, with 7.0%.
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Al-Anon Easy Does It AFG - Friday Night - Location: Pass It On Club
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