Preliminary Data from the Drug Abuse 

Warning Network – April 2019-October 

2020

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality
Preliminary Data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network – April 2019-October 2020

Table of Contents

Introduction............................................................................................................................................... 1

Background................................................................................................................................................ 1

Methods..................................................................................................................................................... 2

Preliminary Data ........................................................................................................................................ 5

ED Visits Involving Illicit Substances by Community Type..................................................................... 7

ED Visits for Nonmedical Use of the Most Common Opioids by Community Type ..............................8

Substance-use related ED Visits ............................................................................................................ 9

Sentinel Events .................................................................................................................................... 12

Summary.................................................................................................................................................. 12
Preliminary Data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network – April 2019-October 2020

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Introduction

The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) is a nationwide public health surveillance system 

administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s 

(SAMHSA’s) Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (CBHSQ). In 2018, SAMHSA 

reinstated DAWN after a 7-year hiatus. As of October 15, 2020, data are being abstracted from 

49 hospitals; ultimately, the system will include at least 50 non-Federal general hospitals with 24 

hour emergency departments (EDs), consisting of 10 sentinel hospitals and 40 probabilitysampled hospitals. Data are abstracted directly from hospital electronic health records. DAWN 

captures data on ED visits related to recent substance use and misuse, such as alcohol use, illicit 

drug use, suicide attempts, and nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals. DAWN data will be used to 

monitor trends, demographic and geographic characteristics, and outcomes of ED visits. 

DAWN’s design will yield surveillance data on an ongoing basis and has the potential to produce 

national estimates. This initiative will serve as an early warning system for the emergence of new 

and novel psychoactive substances.

Background

SAMHSA administered the former DAWN data system (“legacy” DAWN) from 1992 through 

2011. This system required collection of emergency department (ED) data on substance use (42 

U.S.C. 290aa-4(c)). It also provided demographic and visit-level information on ED visits 

resulting from substance use and overdose. Data were collected from more than 200 hospitals

between 2004-2011, and to account for the relatively small sample size, were weighted, thus 

enabling generation of national estimates.

SAMHSA re-established DAWN as a nationwide public health surveillance system to monitor 

emergency department visits related to recent substance use, including those related to opioids. 

Authorized by the 21st Century Cures Act in December 2016, this program is necessary to 

respond effectively to the opioid and addiction crisis in the United States and to better inform 

public health, clinicians, policymakers, and other stakeholders to respond to emerging substance 

use trends. The new DAWN contract was awarded on September 28, 2018. An important 

feature of the new DAWN with potential positive impact to public health is the more rapid 

processing and much earlier release of the data than was previously possible in the legacy 

DAWN. DAWN has several objectives:

• Identify increases in ED visits involving specific substances in its hospitals and monitor 

the geographic, temporal and demographic characteristics of these visits

• Provide a warning system for the emergence of new and novel psychoactive substances 

and combinations of substances
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• Provide capacity for national estimates of substance use-related ED visits 

Methods

Design

DAWN is a hybrid of sentinel hospital-based surveillance and probability sample-based 

surveillance. Its sampling strategy uses 10 sentinel hospitals and 40 probability-sampled 

hospitals. This strategy is a unique, novel approach for public health surveillance. This overall 

design is needed to assess the unique epidemiology of substance use, since these utilization 

patterns do not necessarily follow the pattern of some physical health diseases.

Study sample

The target and inference population for DAWN is all drug-related emergency department (ED) 

visits at hospitals located in the U.S. (50 states and DC) that are: 

• non-Federal,

• short-stay,

• general surgical and medical hospitals,

• with at least one 24-hour ED.

• at least 100 ED visits in 2016

Hospitals that met these criteria were selected from the 2016 American Hospital Association 

(AHA) file. The final number of DAWN-eligible hospitals was 4,310. Of these, 50 hospitals 

were selected. This group is divided into two parts, as follows.

Ten hospitals were selected to be part of a sentinel surveillance group. Sentinel surveillance is 

an early warning system; the goal is to select the sites that are most likely to yield the type of 

cases of concern, gather data and analyze/interpret it quickly so that a plan of action can be 

developed. Producing a representative estimate is usually not the goal of a sentinel surveillance 

system. High priority sentinel areas were defined as counties with high potential DAWN case 

volume and severity specific to opioid, cocaine, and stimulant-related mortality (based on drug 

overdose death reported from CDC data) and morbidity (ED visits using Healthcare Cost and 

Utilization Project (HCUP) data from the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ)), 

geographic considerations such as areas known for characteristics of interest (e.g., Atlanta is a 

known East Coast distribution point for methamphetamine).

The second group is a probability sample-based surveillance group. It was developed so that we 

could provide a population-based estimate should we be called upon to do so. Hospitals were 

selected from across the country in urban, suburban, and rural areas. The probability sampling 

strategy was to use two stage stratification. In the first stage, the 3,143 U.S. counties were 

classified into two groups (strata). 
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• 15 high risk suburban and rural counties (Part B)

• 3,128 all other urban, suburban and rural counties (Part C)

In the second stage we stratified by census regions. We used systematic random sampling 

methods within a stratum in order to account for small sample size and best representativeness.

Recruitment

Recruitment began with contacting selected DAWN Hospitals and working with them to 

complete a Hospital Data Access Agreement (DAA), Business Associate Agreement (BAA), and 

Institutional Review Board (IRB) approvals (as required).

Hospitals are paid $100,000 annually (per hospital) to cover their data-related access costs. 

DAWN hospitals are able to participate in DAWN and comply fully with the HIPAA Privacy 

Rule. DAWN is committed by law and by practice to preserving patient privacy and safety by 

following the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) (PL 104-191) and 

the HIPAA Privacy Rule (45 CFR Part 160 and Part 164 subparts A and E). 

As of October 15, 2020, 49 hospitals have signed a DAA for participating in DAWN. Data 

abstraction is ongoing at 49 hospitals. Table 1 below shows the status of abstraction by 

community type.

Table 1. DAWN Abstraction

Geography U.S. Urban Suburban Rural

Abstracting 49 22 11 16

 Sentinel (Part A) 10 7 2 1

 Parts B+C 39 15 9 15

Data abstraction

Hospitals provide access to their electronic health record systems. Each ED record is reviewed 

by a trained abstractor with medical background (DAWN contractor). When DAWN cases are 

identified, information is abstracted into secure online data collection systems. The abstractor 

types in the names of substances, the DAWN system auto-matches them to a drugs of interest

list. This direct review method is better at identifying all substance-related visits than other 

search methods, including diagnosis code screening.

The following data elements are abstracted: 

• Date of Visit

• Time of Visit
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• Age of Patient

• Patient’s County of Residence

• Sex of Patient

• Race/Ethnicity of Patient

• Substance(s) Involved

• Route of Administration

• Diagnoses

• Case Type

• Medication-Assisted Treatment Administered in ED

• Disposition, including Referral Information

DAWN captures all ED visits related to recent substance use. DAWN focuses on major 

substances with abuse liability, including alcohol, marijuana, illicit stimulants such as cocaine 

and methamphetamine, illicit opioids such as heroin and fentanyl, several classes of prescription 

and over the counter (OTC) medications, and a targeted list of inhalants and supplements. 

DAWN is not limited to substance abuse and misuse, but includes any reason that a substance 

was used:

• Illegal substance use, alcohol use, nonmedical use of prescription and over-the-counter 

medications 

• Suicide attempts and overdoses

Substance use must have been implicated in the reason for the ED visit, either as the direct cause 

(e.g., overdose) or as a contributing factor (e.g., injury, infection, organ damage). “Current 

medications” are not included unless they contributed to the visit. A person having recently 

taken drugs is not necessarily a DAWN case—the information is only included in DAWN if the 

drugs taken were related to the reason for the ED visit.

Statistical Analysis

Descriptive statistics including frequencies and percentages of certain DAWN data elements 

were run for this report using SAS. DAWN cases are ED visits involving recent use of illegal 

and legal substances, including prescription drugs. The information given below summarizes 

unweighted data abstracted from 4/1/2019 to 10/15/2020. The sample of DAWN hospitals is not 

complete as not all hospitals started data abstraction at the same time during the April 2019-

October 2020 period. For this reason, and because the data are unweighted, this report provides 

only preliminary results that are not generalizable to the US; caution must therefore be exercised 

in interpreting the data presented here.
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Preliminary Data

Substance Use-Related ED visits, by Community Type

We define substance use-related ED visit as an ED visit precipitated by the use of any chemical, 

whether licit or illicit, including alcohol, illicit drugs, and pharmaceuticals with abuse potential, 

such as benzodiazepines and pain killers. Table 2 below shows that as of October 2020, 58,807 

or 4.6% of the 1,275,925 ED visits in the 49 participating hospitals were related to recent 

substance use. This proportion ranged from 2.0% to 5.3% at rural and urban hospitals, 

respectively.

Table 2. Substance Use-Related ED visits, by Community Type

Community Type All Urban Suburban Rural

Hospitals

(N)

49 22 11 16

ED visits 

reviewed

(N)

1,275,925 783,940 313,749 178,236

Substance userelated ED visits

N

(%)

58,807

(4.6%)

41,642

(5.3%)

13,521

(4.3%)

3,644

(2.0%)

ED Visits Involving Top Illicit Substances

Most commonly associated with ED visits are illicit substances (37,320 ED visits) and central 

nervous system (CNS) agents (13,111 ED visits). Among illicit drugs, stimulants (including 

methamphetamine and illicit amphetamine) are the most common (17,769 ED visits or 47.6% of 

the illicit substance-related ED visits) followed by cannabinoids (including marijuana and 

synthetic cannabinoids; 11,223 ED visits or 30% of the illicit substance-related ED visits).
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Figure 1. ED Visits Involving Top Illicit Substances

STM: stimulants; CAN: cannabinoids; HER: heroin; COC: cocaine; XTC: ecstasy; LSD: Lysergic acid

diethylamide; PCP: Phencyclidine; NTA: combos Not Tabulated Above1

; HAL: misc. hallucinogens.

Figure 2 below shows the two most common drugs within the illicit stimulants and cannabinoids 

categories. Methamphetamine is the most common drug in the illicit stimulants category (16,473 

ED visits or 93% of the stimulant use-related visits) and marijuana is the most common drug in 

the cannabinoids category (10,780 ED visits or 96% of the cannabinoid use related visits).

Increases in stimulants related to DAWN cases may be associated with increasing use of illicit 

methamphetamine which has been observed in recent years as the opioids crisis has evolved as 

well as over treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, as more adults are now seeking 

diagnosis and treatment.

2 Increases in marijuana use may be a result of changing norms that

legalize use of this drug.

3

1 Combinations Not Tabulated Above includes illicit drug combinations such as marijuana mixed with other illicit 

drugs like cocaine or heroin.

2 https://www.nature.com/articles/453586a

3 https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/marijuana-overview.aspx
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Figure 2. ED visits involving Methamphetamine and Marijuana

MET: methamphetamine; MRJ: marijuana

ED Visits Involving Illicit Substances by Community Type

Shown below in Figure 3 are the number of ED visits in DAWN-reporting hospitals related to 

commonly used illicit substances. Most of these visits involved methamphetamine, and these 

cases were most commonly seen in urban areas (11,410 ED visits or 69% of all ED visits related 

to methamphetamine). 

16.5K

10.8K

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

16.0

18.0

MET MRJ

ED Visits in Thousands, N
Preliminary Data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network – April 2019-October 2020

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Figure 3. ED Visits Involving Illicit Substances by Community Type

MET: methamphetamine; MRJ: marijuana; HER: heroin; COC: cocaine; AMP: amphetamine

Note - DAWN urbanization categories were created by collapsing 6-level NCHS 2013 urban-rural classification 

scheme into 3 categories: urban (large central and fringe metro), suburban (medium and small metro), and rural 

(micropolitan and noncore) counties.

ED Visits for Nonmedical Use of the Most Common Opioids by Community 

Type

ED visits related to nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals focused on opioids, which were 

responsible for 7,726 ED visits. The five opioids most commonly associated with ED visits were

fentanyl, oxycodone, methadone, buprenorphine, and hydrocodone, as shown below. 

16.5K

10.8K

8.8K

6.9K

1.7K

11.4K

7.3K 6.5K

5.6K

1.2K

4.4K

2.7K

1.8K 1.1K 0.7K 0.4K 0.8K 0.5K 0.2K 0.1K

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

MET MRJ HER COC AMP

ED Visits in Thousands, N

Total Urban Suburban Rural
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Figure 4. ED Visits for Nonmedical Use of the Most Common Opioids by Community Type

FEN fentanyl; OXY: oxycodone; MTD: methadone; BUP: buprenorphine; HYD: hydrocodone.

Note - DAWN urbanization categories were created by collapsing 6-level NCHS 2013 urban-rural classification 

scheme into 3 categories: urban (large central and fringe metro), suburban (medium and small metro), and rural 

(micropolitan and noncore) counties.

Substance-use related ED Visits

Among the 58,673 substance-use related ED visits, 49,773 (85%) involved illicit drugs and/or 

alcohol (Table 3 below). The remaining 8,900 substance use-related ED visits involved 

substances that are commonly abused but are not illicit, such as prescription drugs (e.g., 

benzodiazepines). Most of the illicit drug-related visits (29,631 or 60%) were associated with use 

of a single illicit drug or of alcohol alone. The majority (25,527 ED visits or 51%) of patients 

seen in the ED for illicit drug and/or alcohol use were 26-45 year olds, who most commonly used 

methamphetamine, either by itself (5,109 or 20% of ED visits for illicit drug or alcohol use) or 

with other substances and/or alcohol (5,1854 or 46% of ED visits for polysubstance use). We 

define polysubstance use as the use of more than one substance, where at least one substance is 

an illicit drug or alcohol and may include pharmaceuticals. Polysubstance use may potentially be 

a noticeable proportion among all substance users. 

The number of ED visits due to polysubstance abuse was not insignificant, accounting for 20,142 

visits or 40% of the total illicit drug and/or alcohol-related visits, where the majority (11,175 ED 

4 Calculated by subtracting the 5,109 ED visits associated with sole methamphetamine use among 26-45 year olds

from the 10,294 ED visits associated with use of both methamphetamine and other substance(s) among the same 

age group.

1.9K

1.6K

1.0K

0.8K

0.2K

1.6K

1.2K

0.8K

0.5K

0.1K

0.2K

0.3K

0.2K 0.2K

0.1K 0.1K 0.1K

0.0K

0.1K 0.1K

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

FEN OXY MTD BUP HYD

ED Visits in Thousands, N

Total Urban Suburban Rural
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visits or 55%) of patients were again 26-45 year olds. Different combinations of alcohol, 

benzodiazepines, cocaine, methamphetamine, and opioids can significantly increase chances of 

fatal overdose. A recent study also documented that positivity rates for un-prescribed fentanyl 

among the methamphetamine or cocaine positive results also increased significantly.

5 The 

commonly used illicit drugs or alcohol among polysubstance users group in Table 3 represents

ED visits involving alcohol or the particular illicit substance listed together with at least one 

other substance, which may be a prescription drug. Data abstraction for ED visits by adults 21 

years old and older due to sole use of alcohol is underway. These data have been collected only 

for visits starting in 1/1/2020, and as of 10/15/20 at only 2.4% of DAWN hospitals. Since the 

data were obtained from such a small proportion of currently participating DAWN hospitals, we 

cannot draw conclusions about alcohol use, despite it being the most common cause for ED visits 

among both the monosubstance and polysubstance use groups (10,005 and 10,031 ED visits; 

Table 3).

5 Larue, L., Twillman, R. K., Dawson, E., Whitley, P., Frasco, M. A., Huskey, A., & Guevara, M. G. (2019). Rate of 

Fentanyl Positivity Among Urine Drug Test Results Positive for Cocaine or Methamphetamine. JAMA Network 

Open, 2(4). doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.2851
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Table 3. Substance-use related ED Visits

Substance

Age Group, years

<18 18-25 26-45 >45 Total

N N N N N

All substance use-related ED visits 1,946 8,947 29,362 18,418 58,673

Without illicit drug or alcohol

435 1,299 3,835 3,331 8,900

With illicit drug and/or alcohol¶

1,511 7,648 25,527 15,087 49,773

One illicit drug or alcohol¶ 989 4,274 14,352 10,016 29,631

Methamphetamine only

22 890 5,109 2,282 8,303

Alcohol only¶

360 1,172 3,613 4,860 10,005

Marijuana only

530 1,387 1,641 578 4,136

Heroin only * 429 2,435 1,045 3,917

Cocaine only * 157 838 965 1,966

Amphetamine only * 51 280 143 479

Synthetic Cannabinoids only * 29 135 62 228

Other single Illicit drug use

56 159 301 81 597

Polysubstance use+ 522 3,374 11,175 5,071 20,142

Commonly Used Illicit Drugs or Alcohol

among Polysubstance Users§

Methamphetamine

58 1,111 5,185 1,789 8,143

Alcohol¶

261 1,604 5,058 3,108 10,031

Marijuana

386 1,532 3,347 1,373 6,638

Heroin

17 650 3,152 1,001 4,820

Cocaine

54 679 2,567 1,607 4,907

Amphetamine (illicit)

18 165 755 260 1,198

Synthetic cannabinoids * 58 170 61 294
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Note—This table excludes ED visits missing age data.

¶

Data abstraction for alcohol only in adults 21 years & older is underway and as of 10/15/20 is 

complete at 2.4% of DAWN hospitals, and covers the period 1/1/20-10/15/20.

+Polysubstance use involves the use of at least one illicit substance or alcohol and other substance(s)

§Visit involves this substance and any other substance (includes the one illicit drug or alcohol cases 

above)

*counts under 10 are suppressed

Sentinel Events

DAWN uses a sentinel surveillance system, because it helps identify high risk counties, enabling

SAMHSA to focus attention at the local level in areas where need is the greatest. Hospitals 

selected to be sentinels are most likely to have substance use-related adverse events, and we can 

monitor the data for patterns such as geographical location, demographics of population served, 

and ED visit volume. Insights from local public health experts and epidemiologists who are 

familiar with substance use and misuse in their communities can help inform SAMHSA about 

onset of sentinel events and epidemic drug abuse.

DAWN is designed to assess two types of sentinel events. A time-based sentinel event is a 

significant aberration in signal size, location, demographic distribution, etc. of a drug-related ED 

visit or multiple visits over a short time that (1) cannot be attributed to data/quality control issues 

and (2) may reflect a potential public health problem requiring further action. An event-based

sentinel event is the first and subsequent occurrence(s) of key substance-related ED visits (e.g.,

fentanyl, kratom) and/or case types (e.g., suicide attempts, neonates with withdrawal symptoms) 

that are of high priority to SAMHSA.

DAWN’s sentinel event system is currently being implemented, using statistical process control 

(SPC), a surveillance statistical technique commonly used to detect events of interest/concern. 

All sentinel event-related software programs have been developed and successfully installed, 

with the production phase and testing using real data to be launched in the near future. 

Summary

Among the 49 currently participating DAWN hospitals, the proportion of emergency department 

visits attributable to substance use, illicit or otherwise, was 4.6% during the period April 1, 2019

to October 15, 2020. This proportion was somewhat higher, at 5.3%, in the DAWN hospitals in 

urban areas. These preliminary results may have implications for health service delivery costs. 

According to a recent AHRQ Statistical Brief, service delivery costs connected with mental 

health/substance use-related ED visits was about $5.6 billion in 2017.6 In particular, illicit drugs 

or alcohol use may be an important target for substance use prevention and treatment efforts. 

Such activities might include strengthening ED-based care for substance users, such as 

medication-assisted treatment initiation, as well as care coordination between the ED and 

6 https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb257-ED-Costs-Mental-Substance-Use-Disorders-2017.jsp
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specialty behavioral health services in the community. In addition, in 2018 there were more than 

67,300 deaths from drug-involved overdose. This figure represents a substantial increase from 

the 38,329 deaths that occurred in 2010. Approximately 85% of substance use-related ED visits 

were associated with illicit drugs and/or alcohol, while the remaining 15% of visits were 

precipitated by commonly abused licit pharmaceuticals. These preliminary results also suggest 

that public health interventions may need to focus on methamphetamine since it appears to be the 

illicit substance most commonly associated with substance use-related DAWN ED visits (16,446 

of the 49,773 or 33.0% of ED visits involving illicit substances and/or alcohol). Whether by 

itself or as part of polysubstance use, methamphetamine use prompted proportionately the most 

ED visits to a DAWN hospital. Methamphetamine appears to be a growing worldwide problem.7

Given the opioid-use pandemic, only 7,726 (15.5%) of the ED visits for illicit substance/alcohol 

use, were associated with use of any prescribed opioids. Similarly, ED visits for heroin related 

adverse events was 8,800 with ED visits related to methamphetamine and marijuana 

substantially exceeding those for heroin. These findings underscore the benefit of concentrating 

resources in recent years to address prescription opioid misuse and to enhance prevention, 

treatment and community recovery supports in this area. A growing concern highlighted in the 

DAWN data is the relatively high rate of DAWN cases related to adverse events associated with 

marijuana use. With the increasing access to marijuana products which are largely unregulated 

by states that have approved marijuana for medical and personal use, it can be expected that 

toxicities related to marijuana product use will continue to increase and will exact a significant 

toll on Americans. In addition to the suggested focus on methamphetamine, preventionists and

clinicians may wish to expand substance misuse prevention efforts to focus on adults ages 26-45 

years old in particular. Individuals between the ages of 26 and 45 made up the majority of 

people seen in DAWN hospital EDs for substance use, irrespective of the illicit drug or alcohol

responsible for their visit. Finally, the DAWN data underscore the ongoing role of alcohol use in 

adverse health effects and particularly its role in adverse events related to substance misuse. 

Efforts going forward need to include a larger focus on alcohol and its potential toxic 

interactions with other medications and illicit substances. These efforts should include 

prevention efforts across the lifespan that provide education to the public about risks associated 

with excessive alcohol use as well as the potential for severe and, in some, fatal drug-drug 

interactions when alcohol is used with other medications and/or illicit substances.

7 https://www.unodc.org/wdr2018/