Preliminary Findings from Drug-Related Emergency Department Visits, 2021 (Drug Abuse Warning Network - DAWN)

Analysis of the 2021 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) reports identifying 141,529 (unweighted) drug-related emergency department (ED) visits from 52 participating hospitals. Researchers identified the top five drugs involved in drug-related ED visits in 2021 were alcohol (39.33% of all drug-related ED visits), opioids (14.07%), methamphetamine (11.02%), marijuana (10.78%), and cocaine (4.71%). Key findings by age, sex, race, ethnicity, and Census Region are also provided in this report. Additionally, In-depth analysis of 2021 data identified 38 substances related to ED visits that were new to DAWN’s Drug Reference Vocabulary. All of these substances were added to the DRV’s existing drug categories. Of the 38 substances, roughly one-third were illicit drugs, and the other two-thirds were non-illicit substances.