About DAWN

Details

The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) is a nationwide public health surveillance system. It captures data on emergency department visits (ED) related to recent substance use. It does so directly from the electronic health records of participating hospitals. SAMHSA administered DAWN from 1992 through 2011 (legacy DAWN) and reestablished the current version of DAWN in 2018.

The key objectives of DAWN are to:

• Track demographic and geographic distribution in substance-related ED visits
• Identify trends in substance-related ED visits
• Provide timely data
• Serve as an early warning system that identifies emerging and novel psychoactive substances and/or combinations of substances
• Provide national estimates of substance-related ED visits to key stakeholders and the public. 

Authorized by the 21st Century Cures Act in December 2016, the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) is a data collection program of CBHSQ. SAMHSA is required and authorized, under section 42 U.S.C. §290aa-4(d)(1)(A), to collect the number of individuals admitted to the emergency rooms of hospitals as a result of the abuse of alcohol or other drugs. SAMHSA is authorized to receive protected health information from hospital EDs for the purpose of public health surveillance under the HIPAA Privacy Rule (45 C.F.R. 164.512(b)(1)). Such disclosures are permitted and do not require the authorization of the patient.

Where Do the Data Come From?

Data are collected from a selection of hospitals. The recruitment of 53 hospitals was completed in 2021 and continues to grow. These general surgical and medical hospitals must:

• Be non-federal
• Be short-stay
• Have at least one ED open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Have more than 100 visits per year