Office of National Drug Control Policy

National Survey on Drug Use and Health

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), formerly the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), measures the prevalence of drug and alcohol use among household members ages 12 and older, and is administered annually by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Topics include drug use, health, and demographics. In 1991, it was expanded to include college students in dormitories, people living in homeless shelters, and civilians living on military bases. The NHSDA was administered by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) from 1974 through 1991; SAMHSA has administered the survey since 1992.

The data collection methodology was changed from paper-and-pencil interviews to computer-assisted interviews in 1999, and the sample was expanded almost fourfold to permit state-level estimates and more detailed subgroup analyses, including racial and ethnic subgroups and single-year age categories. These and further changes in 2002, including the name change, payment of an incentive to respondents, and improved training of interviewers, have caused breaks in trend data after 1998 and after 2001. State-level estimates also are calculated using single-year data for more common behaviors and aggregated multiyear data for less common phenomena. NSDUH data