increased. Increasing treatment access is a part of a comprehensive rehabilitation process, and one of the main goals of the country’s addiction treatment program.
Opioid substitution treatment is currently included in health trusts, specialist care services, and it has provided a broad mandate to the regional health authorities to assess the overall treatment and initiate recovery follow-ups.
Though general practitioners can only operate within strict arrangements, they play a key role in prescribing medication for clients.
Violations in the program include leaving rehab and relapse, which are determined by the legislators rather than the rehab facility or the medical practitioners. The prisons are decidedly more rehabilitation-based in Norway than in the U.S., but addiction research consistently shows that treatment within the user’s community is the most effective way to combat drug addiction.
Author: Ryan Beitler
An editor and contributor to Addiction Now, Ryan Beitler is a journalist, fiction writer, musician, and travel writer. He has written for Paste Magazine, OC Weekly, numerous addiction recovery publications, and his travel blog Our Little Blue Rock. He lives in Southern California. Contact Ryan at ryanrbeitler@gmail.com or ryanb@addictionnow.com.
