Treatment of cannabis-related problems in the Nordic countries

Nordic Welfare Centre’s report Treatment of cannabis-related problems in the Nordic countries identifies challenges for treatment but also good practices in the Nordics.

In Denmark cannabis is by far the primary problem among newcomers to drug treatment. In Iceland, more than one third of all addiction patients have cannabis as primary problem. In Finland 33 percent of newcomers to drug treatment have cannabis as their main drug problem. In Norway and Sweden, the figures indicate that about 10 percent of clients in treatment are primarily cannabis problem users.

Cannabis users are not a homogenous group, and users can be found in many different age and social groups. But those in treatment for cannabis problems share many of the common complications of others in substance abuse treatment: multidrug use, prevalence of psychiatric problems, and a lack of social resources. In addition, cannabis problem users in treatment are often very young and predominantly male.

• N.B: The project Cannabis Intervention For Young Users, which is mentioned as the Hashish Rehabilitation Programme on page 28, is a collaboration between EHYT – the Finnish Association of Substance Use Prevention and YAD Youth Against Drugs. The main target group are aged 15–35 years. The programme is nationwide.

This report has been published on behalf of the Nordic Arena for Public Health Issues.