Wisconsin has the second-highest binge drinking rate in the country.
A report by UW-Madison’s Population Health Institute shows the national rate was 16 percent, and the state’s figure was 24 percent.
The head of a treatment center for alcohol and drug addiction says drinking is part of the culture. Apricity CEO Michelle Devine Giese says that’s got to change, and it has to start with teaching kids.
She says alcohol is available at movie theaters, church picnics and children’s birthday parties, and society needs to make some shifts.
Most of the binge drinking rates in the Fox Valley are higher than the state average. It’s 27 percent in Outagamie County, 31 percent in Calumet, and 28 percent in Brown. Winnebago County was lower, at 22 percent.
