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Reduce the proportion of people who started using heroin in the past year — SU‑17 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About this objective  |  Methodology  |  History

About this objective

Data

Data Source:  National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), SAMHSA

National baseline: 0.02 percent of persons aged 12 years and over reported heroin use initiation in the past 12 months in 2021-22

National target: 0.02 percent

Numerator
Number of persons aged 12 years and over reporting heroin use initiation in the past 12 months.
Denominator
Number of persons aged 12 years and over.
National target-setting method
Maintain the baseline
National target-setting method justification
Trend data are not available due to NSDUH redesign. Maintaining the baseline is the desired target because it retains the original target setting method, and the Workgroup Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) viewed this as an ambitious and aspirational goal.

Methodology

Questions used to obtain the national baseline data

(For additional information, please visit the data source page linked above.)

From the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health:

Numerator:
Have you ever, even once, used heroin?
  1. Yes
  2. No
How long has it been since you last used heroin?
  1. Within the past 30 days -- that is, since [DATEFILL]
  2. More than 30 days ago but within the past 12 months
  3. More than 12 months ago
How old were you the first time you used heroin?
  • AGE __________
Did you first use heroin in [CURRENT YEAR - 1] or [CURRENT YEAR]?
  1. CURRENT YEAR-1
  2. CURRENT YEAR
Did you first use heroin in [CURRENT YEAR - 2] or [CURRENT YEAR - 1]?
  1. CURRENT YEAR-2
  2. CURRENT YEAR-1
In what month in [CURRENT YEAR] did you first use heroin?
  1. January
  2. February
  3. March
  4. April
  5. May
  6. June
  7. July
  8. August
  9. September
  10. October
  11. November
  12. December

Methodology notes

Measures of use of heroin in the respondent's lifetime, the past year, and the past month were derived from responses to the questions in the heroin section of the questionnaire about lifetime and recency of use (i.e., "Have you ever, even once, used heroin?" and "How long has it been since you last used heroin?"). The question about recency of use was asked if respondents previously reported any use of heroin in their lifetime.

History

Revision History
Revised. 

In 2024, the baseline was revised from 0.03% in 2017 to 0.02% in 2021-2022. While the target setting method remains maintaining the baseline, the target was revised from 0.03% to 0.02% using the 2021-2022 data.
Trend issues
SAMHSA started multimode data collection (in-person and web-based collection) for the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) beginning in Quarter 4 (i.e., October to December) of 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 NSDUH is based on both in-person and web interviews. Prior to 2020, NSDUH data are based on in-person data collection alone. The 2020 NSDUH included only 2 quarters (Quarters 1 and 4) of data collection unlike the four quarters of data collected in other years. Several analyses were conducted to investigate the impacts of these and related methodological issues on estimates for 2021. Using the outcomes of the comparability analyses, the following decisions were made regarding the 2021 NSDUH data. * Estimates from 2021 cannot be compared with those in 2019 or prior years because estimates from a multimode year are not comparable with estimates from a single-mode year. Estimates of change from 2019 or earlier to 2021 would probably be too greatly influenced by the mode effect. * Because of effects on estimates when some quarters of data are excluded or missing, 2020 estimates (based on two quarters of data) cannot be compared with those of any other year, including 2021. Using only 2 quarters of data may yield a different trend than use of 4 quarters of data. * NSDUH data from 2021 should not be combined or compared with any prior data.