[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 194 (Friday, October 5, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Page 50386]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-21716]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities Under Emergency Review 
by the Office of Management and Budget

    The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 
(SAMHSA) has submitted the following request (see below) for emergency 
OMB review under the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). 
OMB approval has been requested by October 25, 2018. A copy of the 
information collection plans may be obtained by calling the SAMHSA 
Reports Clearance Officer on (240) 276-1243.
    Title: 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
    OMB Number: 0930-0110.
    Frequency: Annual.
    Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
    The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) is a survey of 
the U.S. civilian, non-institutionalized population aged 12 years old 
or older. The data are used to determine the prevalence of use of 
tobacco products, alcohol, illicit substances, and illicit use of 
prescription drugs. The results are used by SAMHSA, the Office of 
National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), federal government agencies, and 
other organizations and researchers to establish policy, direct program 
activities, and better allocate resources.
    While NSDUH must be updated periodically to reflect changing 
substance use and mental health issues and to continue producing 
current data, for the 2019 NSDUH only the following minor changes are 
planned: (1) Adding a brief series of questions on medication-
assistance treatment (MAT) for opioids and alcohol; (2) two questions 
about the use of kratom (a tropical tree, native to Southeast Asia, 
with leaves that have psychotropic effects and is generally regarded as 
an opioid given its known properties); and (3) included other minor 
wording changes to improve the flow of the interview, increase 
respondent comprehension or to be consistent with text in other 
questions.
    The series of MAT questions seeks to identify medications 
prescribed by health professionals to help reduce or stop the use of 
opioids or alcohol. Including these questions in NSDUH will allow 
SAMHSA to provide the first known national-level estimates on the use 
of MAT for opioid use disorder or alcohol use disorder. The two 
questions on kratom will provide the first national, systematic 
epidemiological or survey data on its use in this country and establish 
a baseline for the use of kratom--an easily accessible, unregulated, 
opioid-like drug. Not currently illegal in the United States, kratom is 
easy to order on the internet, typically ingested as a leaf, pill or 
capsule and contains chemical compounds which interact with opioid 
receptors in the brain. Some users of kratom products reported becoming 
addicted to the drug.
    As with all NSDUH/NHSDA (Prior to 2002, the NSDUH was referred to 
as the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse) surveys conducted since 
1999, the sample size of the survey for 2019 will be sufficient to 
permit prevalence estimates for each of the fifty states and the 
District of Columbia. The total annual burden estimate is shown below 
in Table 1.

                               Table 1--Annualized Estimated Burden for 2019 NSDUH
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                                     Number of     Responses per   Total number      Hours per     Total burden
           Instrument               respondents     respondent     of responses      response          hours
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Household Screening.............         137,231               1         137,231           0.083          11,390
Interview.......................          67,507               1          67,507           1.000          67,507
Screening Verification..........           4,116               1           4,116           0.067             276
Interview Verification..........          10,126               1          10,126           0.067             678
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    Total.......................         137,231  ..............         218,980  ..............          79,851
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    Emergency approval is being requested because SAMHSA has determined 
that the kratom questions will provide the first national, systematic 
epidemiological or survey data on its use in this country and establish 
a baseline for the use of kratom--an easily accessible, unregulated, 
opioid-like drug. Some users of kratom products reported becoming 
addicted to the drug. Because of these additional questions, this 
Federal Register notice is a revision from the one that was published 
on May 31, 2018.
    Written comments and recommendations concerning the proposed 
information collection should be sent by October 24, 2018 Elyse 
Greenwald, SAMHSA's Desk Officer at the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB). To ensure 
timely receipt of comments, and to avoid potential delays in OMB's 
receipt and processing of mail sent through the U.S. Postal Service, 
commenters are encouraged to submit their comments to OMB via email to: 
[email protected]. Although commenters are encouraged to send 
their comments via email, commenters may also fax their comments to: 
202-395-7285. Commenters may also mail them to: Office of Management 
and Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, New Executive 
Office Building, Room 10102, Washington, DC 20503.

Summer King,
Statistician.
[FR Doc. 2018-21716 Filed 10-4-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4162-20-P