Opioids, opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) and overdose prevention

About the group

OMT has existed as a national treatment for heroin addiction since 1998. As of 2012, more than 6500 patients are on this treatment in Norway.

OMT treatment aims to reduce the risk of disease, crime and mortality in the target group, but the treatment also seeks to optimize the patient’s general level of functioning and quality of life.

The OMT drugs, methadone and buprenorphine, are medicines which if used wrongly by individuals not in the OMT programme, can act as drugs of misuse and, in severe cases, can lead to overdose and death.

It is important to evaluate the OMT treatment and examine whether the intention of the treatment - risk reduction - is met by the current OMT model in Norway.

There are several projects at SERAF studying various aspects of OMT treatment.

Projects

• Promoting healthy longevity among people with substance use disorders (AgeSUD)

• Preventing an opioid epidemic in Norway (POINT)

• Evaluation of heroin assisted treatment (HAB)

• OMT National Patient Register (NorCOMT)

• OMT cross-registry study

• Mother, Child and OMT (GOBLAR)

• Abuse of prescription drugs (PDA)

• Overdose deaths in Oslo in the period 2006-2008 (completed)