Alcohol Death Rates Up in CT

In 1993, Newtown mother Dorrie Carolan founded Parent Connection to support parents whose children were battling addiction after her son died of a prescription drug overdose. In the decades that followed, her organization has faced a new enemy, one of the oldest recreational drugs: alcohol. 

From 2012 to 2022, alcohol-related deaths in Connecticut has nearly tripled from 4.5 to 12 per 100,000 people, a 166.67% increase, the highest percentage increase recorded among all U.S. states, according to a study conducted by Lantana Recovery. 

“It’s totally different than it was 10 years ago,” Carolan said. “It’s more accepted. You go to tailgating parties, high school sports games, and the parents have their Yeti [cups] filled with alcohol. The younger generation then sees that, [they] drink a lot more than we did.” 

Before COVID-19, Dr. J. Craig Allen treated mostly opioid-addicted patients at Hartford HealthCare’s Ridge Recovery Center where he serves as vice president of addiction services. Now, the “vast majority” of patients are coming in for alcohol-abuse, just like at Carolan’s center.

“Everyone’s aware that alcohol can lead to problems, yet the association of alcohol is different,” Allen said. “[It’s in] almost every level of our society. Advertisements, TV and radio and social media glamorize the use of alcohol.” Besides the cultural influence alcohol has, both also pointed to binge drinking as one of the main influencing factors for the rise. 

Binge drinking, typically defined as consuming a large amount of alcohol — five or more drinks for men and four or more drinks for women — within about two hours, has become increasingly prevalent in the state. Nearly 21% of adults in the state engage in this form of consumption, according to Preston Rideout, a nightclub and bar consultant and the CEO of Rideout Hospitality and founder of The Dram Shop Experts.

Those they leave behind

“[Alcoholism deaths are] really hard on families,” Michael Brunk, chief marketing officer at Paramount Wellness Retreat, said. His brother passed away from the disease a year ago. While Paramount helps treat addiction to a variety of abused substances, patients struggling with alcoholism are the most common, he says.

“A lot of people feel a lot of shame, and I think it’s hard for a lot of people to process a death like this, because there are a bunch of different ways that someone who’s under the influence could die,” Lily Geiger told The Connecticut Mirror. She lost her father to alcoholism when she was 20. “They could get in a car accident, or they could fall down a flight of stairs. Their liver could fail them. So there’s so many things that you kind of just are constantly fearing when you’re dealing with someone in recovery or non-recovery.” 

‘Profound’ impacts on the state 

Excessive alcohol use cost Connecticut’s taxpayers an estimated $3.029 billion in 2010, adjusted to $4.089 billion in 2022 dollars: $2.75 per drink, according to Rideout. “The impact on productivity, traffic collisions and the criminal justice system is profound,” Lantana Recovery’s Executive Director Lindsay Richerson said. 

According to the Connecticut Department of Transportation, nearly 40% of all fatal crashes in the state involved a person with a BAC level above the legal limit in 2021, the last year of verifiable data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The state also had the highest rate of fatal crashes with BAC levels above 0.15% at 30%. Since then, there have been over 8,000 DUI-related crashes, including over 200 fatal crashes, according to AAA Connecticut. 

Rideout pointed to the pandemic as not only a cause for increased alcoholism rates but increased DUI rates. “Unfortunately, this increase in alcohol consumption [during COVID] also coincided with a decrease in law enforcement presence on the roads due to pandemic-related restrictions,” he said. “As a result, drivers may have felt emboldened to drink and drive, knowing that the chances of getting caught were lower.” 

He also pointed to the alcohol industry’s marketing and affordability. “When alcohol is both affordable and heavily advertised, it creates an environment where impaired driving becomes more prevalent, leading to fatal outcomes on the road.” Carolan agreed, citing that parents coming through her doors often don’t even realize their children are drinking given the beverage’s packaging: “it looks like lemonade [or] like berry punch.” It’s all the more appealing for kids then, as well.

Allen pointed to the alcohol industry’s marketing towards women and the “one glass of wine” before bed phenomenon for mothers. “I think that marketing campaigns — really sophisticated, well developed marketing campaigns — have aggressively focused on increasing the number of women purchasing alcohol, the number of women needing emergency help, the number of women developing alcohol use disorders, the number of women dying from alcohol-related causes has increased significantly.”

“The disease left untreated is a death sentence,” Brunk said, urging the state to invest more in facilities like Paramount Wellness. He pointed to the closure of Retreat Behavioral Health as a cause for concern, noting that many people seeking help will now either have to go out of state for treatment or not receive treatment at all. Without state transitional living opportunities and more sober environments relapse rates will remain high. A possible option, Brunk said, is governmental incentives for businesses to have “sober friendly environments.”

This past legislative session, the Connecticut General Assembly introduced S.B. 424 which would have lowered the legal driving blood alcohol level to .05% from .08%. The bill was ultimately tabled, but researchers and advocates at Lantana Recovery “strongly support” its reintroduction and eventual signing into law. 

Allen added that he thinks more must be invested into public service advertisements and education campaigns. Brunk concluded that “ultimately, we just need more help at the state level.”