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. 

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