Providing an earlier warning of emerging drug trends: the føre var system

Abstract

In 2002 the Bergen Clinics Foundation established Føre Var, a citywide ‘earlier warning’ system geared towards the identification, monitoring and reporting of drug and alcohol trends in the city of Bergen, Norway, on a six-monthly basis. The primary goal for the system was the dissemination of earlier, more reliable information on new and emerging trends to enable timely and more effective interventions by policy makers and practitioners in the drug and alcohol field. The Føre Var system triangulates and cross-references a wide range of statistical and quantitative data including seizures data, treatment figures, alcohol sales and a school survey, with information from a number of ‘leading edge’ or sensitive data sources, including Internet sites, youth and local media, cultural mapping and key informants. Data is collected from sources every six months, analysed for identifiable patterns and trends and disseminated widely. This paper details the system's developmental stages and methodologies, in addition to summarizing results from the first three Føre Var reports. In conclusion, the strengths and weaknesses of the model, its replicability as well as the potential advantages of a city-level network are discussed.