Alcohol should be listed as a date-rape drug in Wisconsin's sexual-assault statute, according to a state lawmaker, the Racine Journal Times reported Feb. 16.

Currently, the statute lists several controlled substances as intoxicants, such as rohypnol, but alcohol is only mentioned in the context of being combined with illicit drugs to incapacitate victims. "There's no logical reason to have this gap in the law," said Scott Nelson, an aide to bill sponsor Sen. Cathy Stepp (R-Yorkville). "There's no difference between smoking marijuana and getting high and drinking alcohol and getting drunk."

Currently, Wisconsin is the only state that doesn't list alcohol as an intoxicant in its sexual-assault statute, although it is described as such in other sections of state law. Alcohol actually was in the Wisconsin statute at one point, but was removed in the 1990s when the law was rewritten to include tougher penalties for those who use illicit drugs to facilitate sexual assault.

"This is one of those situations where you say 'What? Are you kidding? That can't be so,' and it is so," said Stepp. "We're looking to change that because clearly alcohol is an intoxicant ... If someone's trying to ply you with alcohol to take advantage of you, there's no difference between that and slipping something into someone's drink, in my mind."