Definitions

The NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY ON DRUG ABUSE, sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is a series of national surveys to measure the prevalence and frequency of drug use among the U.S. household population aged 12 and over. The survey samples the civilian non-institutionalized population living in households, college dormitories, and military installations and, therefore, does not include some segments of the U.S. population that may contain a substantial proportion of drug users, such as transients and those who are incarcerated. The SAMHSA publishes survey results on an annual basis.

The MONITORING THE FUTURE STUDY is a series of nationwide surveys of drug use frequency and related attitudes among high school seniors in the United States. The survey, previously called The High School Senior Survey, is conducted annually by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research and funded by research grants from the SAMHSA. In addition to high school seniors, the study includes the recently added national surveys of 8th- and 10th-grade students. For the 1992 survey, approximately 50,000 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students across the country were questioned.

The DRUG ABUSE WARNING NETWORK (DAWN) is a large-scale data collection system implemented in 1972 and designed to be an indicator of the severity, scope, and nature of the nation’s substance abuse problem. The purpose of DAWN is to provide data on the incidence of drug abuse related episodes from participating hospital emergency rooms located in 21 U.S. metropolitan areas. DAWN is managed by the SAMHSA.