Zoocap

DAWN, or the Drug Abuse Warning Network, is a program to collect statistics on the frequency of emergency room mentions of use of different types of drugs and the stats can be used to help with drug and alcohol rehab.

The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) is a public health surveillance system that has monitored drug-related emergency department (ED) visits to hospitals since the early 1970s. DAWN was initially established by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Then DAWN was transferred to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS), where the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) conducted DAWN from 1980 to 1992. Since 1992, the Office of Applied Studies (OAS) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), USDHHS, has been responsible for DAWN operations and reporting.

A DAWN case is any ED visit related to recent drug use. DAWN includes ED visits associated with substance abuse and misuse, both intentional and accidental. DAWN also includes ED visits related to the use of drugs for legitimate therapeutic purposes. To be a DAWN case, the relation between the ED visit and the drug need not be causal; the drug needs only to be implicated in the visit.

Types of visits in DAWN:

* Suicide attempt,
* Seeking detoxification,
* Alcohol only in patients under age 21,
* Adverse reaction,
* Overmedication,
* Malicious poisoning (including drug-facilitated sexual assault or product tampering),
* Accidental ingestion, and
* Other.

Drugs included in DAWN:

* Illegal drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and Ecstasy,
* Prescription drugs, such as Prozac®, Vicodin®, OxyContin®, alprazolam, and methylphenidate,
* Over-the-counter (OTC) medications, including aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and multi-ingredient cough and cold remedies,
* Dietary supplements, including vitamins, herbal remedies, and nutritional products,
* Psychoactive, nonpharmaceutical inhalants,
* Alcohol in combination with other drugs, and
* Alcohol alone, in patients aged less than 21 years.

The statistics gathered by DAWN are useful to administrators and managers for drug treatments or alcohol rehab in short term and long term applications.