Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10)

DAST is a 10-item screening tool of drug use in the past 12 months, that can be patient or clinician administered.

Instruction: Please answer every question. If you have difficulty with a statement, then choose the response that is mostly right.

In the past 12 months…

1Have you used drugs other than those required for medical reasons?
2Do you abuse more than one drug at a time?
3Are you unable to stop abusing drugs when you want to?
4Have you ever had blackouts or flashbacks as a result of drug use?
5Do you ever feel bad or guilty about your drug use?
6Does your spouse (or parents) ever complain about your involvement with drugs?
7Have you neglected your family because of your use of drugs?
8Have you engaged in illegal activities in order to obtain drugs?
9Have you ever experienced withdrawal symptoms (felt sick) when you stopped taking drugs?
10Have you had medical problems as a result of your drug use (e.g. memory loss, hepatitis, convulsions, bleeding)?
Note regarding scoring: Score 1 point for each question answered Yes except for question 3 for which a No receives 1 point.
Print 

Send Us Your Feedback

Steps on how to print your input & results:

1. Fill in the calculator/tool with your values and/or your answer choices and press Calculate.

2. Then you can click on the Print button to open a PDF in a separate window with the inputs and results. You can further save the PDF or print it.

Please note that once you have closed the PDF you need to click on the Calculate button before you try opening it again, otherwise the input and/or results may not appear in the pdf.

"Drug abuse" refers to:

  • (1) the use of prescribed or over‐the‐counter drugs in excess of the directions;
  • (2) any nonmedical use of drugs.

Each “Yes” question scores 1 point with the exception of item 3, where the “No” question scores 1 point.

The DAST final score ranges from 0 to 10 and is interpreted as follows:

Score Degree of Problems Related to Drug Abuse Suggested Action
0 No problems reported None at this time
1 - 2 Low level Monitor, re - assess at a later date
3 - 5 Moderate level Further investigation
6 - 8 Substantial level Intensive assessment
9 - 10 Severe level Intensive assessment

Specialty: Toxicology

Abbreviation: DAST10