Norway launches national overdose alert service overdosefare.no

19.01.2026 - Norway has launched overdosefare.no, a new national digital alert system designed to help prevent overdoses and save lives by warning when high-risk drugs are circulating. The service was launched on Wednesday 14 January 2026, and has been developed by the Norwegian Directorate of Health (Helsedirektoratet) in cooperation with KORUS, user organisations, and people with lived experience.

The aim is to ensure rapid information-sharing when potentially dangerous substances appear in the drug market, so that people who use drugs and relevant services can act in time. Alerts can be sent directly to mobile or email, and the solution can be added as a shortcut on a phone and used like an app. Users and other actors can also report concerns about overdose risk, either anonymously or openly, through the platform.

Low barriers to use have been a key focus, according to those behind the tool. “It is crucial that both people who use drugs and actors such as health and social services, the police and voluntary organisations use the service,” said Espen Freng, senior adviser in the Directorate of Health, at the launch. He added that the impact depends on broad adoption: “The effect of overdosefare.no depends on how widely it is used. Overdoses are not only a big-city phenomenon, the whole country has to be involved”.

Health and Care Minister Jan Christian Vestre described the new system as part of the government’s work on prevention and treatment reforms in the drug field. “This is a concrete measure that follows up the government’s prevention and treatment reform for the drug field, where we place preparedness thinking and safety high. In many places, also in Europe, we see a strong increase in new psychoactive substances, among them nitazenes which have led to local poisoning outbreaks. This shows that we need to have tools that quickly identify new threats and share information effectively so that we can implement measures in a coordinated way. We have no one to lose to overdoses,” Vestre said.

Director of Health Cathrine M. Lofthus said the service is intended to provide immediate and simultaneous warning to everyone affected. “With overdosefare.no we ensure immediate and simultaneous warning to everyone affected. When users know that dangerous substances are in circulation, they can take steps to reduce the risk, and the services can mobilise resources and implement preparedness,” she said. The Directorate also links the launch to developments in the opioid market, where synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and buprenorphine can trigger waves of overdoses and sometimes appear in products sold as heroin or mixed into other drugs, creating unpredictable and dangerous effects.

The background to the new system includes a major incident in Dublin in 2023, when 57 people overdosed within a few days. The cause was a relatively new synthetic opioid, nitazenes, described in the source material as several hundred times stronger than heroin. Norwegian authorities say these kinds of substances, along with fentanyl and other potent opioids, underline the need for faster warnings and coordinated responses.

Norway recorded 342 drug-induced deaths (overdoses) in 2024, down from 391 the year before, but the numbers remain high compared with earlier years. The source material also points to changes in the substances involved, noting that heroin is no longer the dominant cause. In 2024, other opioids such as morphine, oxycodone, and codeine accounted for the largest share of overdose deaths at 36 percent, while synthetic opioids, including fentanyl and buprenorphine, accounted for a further 19 percent.

Warnings from overdosefare.no are intended to help strengthen preparedness at both regional and local level. Measures mentioned in the source material include improving access to naloxone, increasing staffing in low-threshold services, and informing people who use drugs through outreach services. Lofthus also emphasised the role of naloxone in opioid overdoses, describing it as an antidote available as a nasal spray that can be administered by anyone who arrives first at an overdose situation.

According to the Directorate of Health, anyone can submit a report about suspected dangerous substances via an anonymous form on the website. Professionals assess the information and verify it against other sources. If the risk is confirmed, an alert is published on overdosefare.no, and subscribers receive an SMS notification. Actis Secretary General Inger Lise Hansen welcomed the initiative, saying: “Overdose numbers have been dramatically high in recent years. We have no lives to lose. The fight against overdoses needs new tools, and this is an important step”.

---

Sources: Helsedirektoratet and Actis