Almost 40 percent of 12- to 20-year-olds in Wisconsin reported drinking alcohol within the past month, the highest rate in the nation, according to a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

The state with the lowest rate of past-month underage drinking was Utah, where 21.3 percent of adolescent respondents to the 2004-05 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health said they imbibed. Other states with high current underage-drinking rates were Connecticut, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

The State Estimates of Substance Abuse report provides state-by-state data on addiction and mental-health issues in 23 categories, including underage drinking, binge drinking, illicit-drug use, tobacco use, and serious mental illness. The report included two years of data to improve accuracy in less-populous states, SAMHSA said.

Compared to the 2003-04 report, six states experienced significant decreases in underage drinking -- Hawaii, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Washington -- while underage drinking increased significantly in Texas and Utah.

Binge-drinking rates also were lowest in Utah, where 16.3 percent of 12- to 20-year-olds reported consuming five or more drinks at a sitting within the past 30 days. North Dakota had the highest binge-drinking rate: 31.5 percent.

"We see some encouraging state-level improvements in this report, particularly with illicit drugs and tobacco," said SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline, Ph.D. "But a continuing pattern of underage drinking and binge drinking indicates that many people still do not understand that alcohol can also be a dangerous drug when used in large amounts or by those who are underage."