The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, re-established the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) as a nationwide public health surveillance system to monitor emergency department (ED) visits associated with recent substance use, including those related to opioids. Authorized by the 21st Century Cures Act, this program is necessary to respond effectively to the opioid and addiction crises in the United States and to better inform public health, clinicians, policymakers, and other stakeholders to respond to emerging substance use trends. By using data abstracted directly from ED records, DAWN captures detailed information about the substances involved in ED visits and will serve as an early warning system for the emergence of new and novel psychoactive substances.
SAMHSA has released a preliminary report from DAWN. DAWN, administered by the SAMHSA’s Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, captures data on ED visits related to recent substance use and misuse, such as alcohol use, illicit drug use, and nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals.
In addition to this report, SAMHSA also released five brief DAWN profiles that cover COVID-19, Alcohol, Marijuana, Methamphetamine, as well as Heroin & Nonmedical Use of Prescription Opioids.
Read The Report