Hello, I am writing in English since my norwegian is a bit limited.

I heard from a co-worker that you now can't drive at all if you use narcotics medication that is even prescribed :O

How true is that? I do take Tramadol (not regularly) for back pain that occurs now and then which means I dont take them every day (It also says: "Take when needed" on the prescription bottle). And NO: I don't get "high" on 1 pill anymore since I have used them for 2 years, but not every day (2-3 times a week sometimes more)

So now to the million dollar question: What the hell if I get severe pain in the middle of nowhere where I need to take them in order to continue the driving? Do I have to sleep over in the car and continue the next day when the medication has left my system or what do I do?? Call a tow-truck? xD *Crazy laws*

I even heard that you can get arrested for just sitting in your car drunk!! What the hell is going on in this crazy-police state?

Thank you very much in advance for your answer :-)

https://nhi.no/rettigheter-og-helset...medisintabell/

After reading your thread, you have to wait 8 hours before driving.

Yes, this is a crazy police state. They are not even armed, and they arrest you for watching youtube videos where you see weed.

If its prescribed you can drive

https://oslo-universitetssykehus.no/...-likt-uansett?


Hvorfor gjelder ikke de nye rusmiddelgrensene for folk som får forskrevet legemidlet på resept? Virker ikke stoffene likt uansett?

Ulykkesrisikoen vurderes som mindre når man bruker legemidler slik de er forskrevet av lege som ledd i medisinsk behandling, enn ved sporadisk, illegal bruk. Dette skyldes flere forhold, blant annet toleranseutvikling og den gunstige virkningen av behandlingen.

Hvis en sjåfør som er mistenkt for påvirket kjøring får forskrevet legemidlet på resept, skal fortsatt det ”gamle” systemet med individuell sakkyndig vurdering benyttes. Behandlende lege vil da kunne bli bedt om å dokumentere forskrivningen. Dersom konsentrasjonene i blod ikke samsvarer med forskrivningen, det vil si at man har tatt mer enn legen har forskrevet, vil man bli vurdert etter de nye rusmiddelgrensene.

Theese kind of questions have come up a lot lately. There is laws, by 2016 that states the legal limit of different medications/ narcotics. You can find the full list here. In your case, you will have to wait until the drug mostly have left your system. Tramadol has a halflife that is 6 hours, so you will have to wait quite a bit. That is the law, anyway. The only reason the police would want to take a blood drug test of you is if they have reason to believe that you were driving under the influence. On the other hand, driving while you have taken opiates is dangerous and reckless, not only to your self, but also to other people on the road.

If you take opiates on a regular basis, the police will take that in to account and you can drive whilst taking your opiates. But since you have a ''when needed'' prescription, your drug use is non-predictable, and thereby the tolerance will follow that same path. And yes, if you are sitting in your car drunk, and the ignition is on you may get arrested. I don't think that is too bad at all, I think it busts a lot of drunk drivers, and that it does more good than bad. I most certainly can live with it. But it is a bit true, Norway is in many cases scary close to a ''police state''.

Drive safe!

The laws in Norway are a bit obscure it would seem, but from what I can gather, you are allowed to drive while on prescribed medication as long as you feel ok to do so. On that note, this really means that you have to be ok to drive, if you're stopped because you felt sleepy, but drove anyway, they test you and find the medication in your system, they'll ask a doctor to evaluate your situation. Usually you're not punished for driving on prescribed mediciation.

It's really like in Sweden, where it's up to you as a driver.

You can drive if you have a prescription and have been using it over time and you have build up tolerance.
Sliter egentlig med å skjønne hvorfor man i det hele tatt skal reagere negativt på at man ikke skal kjøre bil når man er påvirket.

Det var jo meningen at trekanten skulle bort også.
https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/...nten/a/106309/

I for one appreciate the way the Norwegian government handles this issue, as in US thousands die each year from intoxicated drivers hitting them and the numbers are increasing.

You can call it as ridiculous as you want but its the law here, tough titties.

As for the details, I do understand sifting through our laws is difficult. You might have found it easier to get a doctors appointment and ask them about the details.
But as far as i can find, you are technicaly not on a regular dose: They mention specifically that using Tramadol for 2 weeks is "long term treatment" but you have to dose 2-3 times a day for your medication to be counted as "regular dosage".
The problem is that Tramadol is a short acting opiate (technically a optiate prodrug, but i digress), so your plasma values (the amount of active drug in your system) is fluctuating too much for the comfort of our safety standards: Even if you don't feel "high", your reaction times are affected depending on the plasma values.
There are depot versions of medication (labeled as 'Retard' e.g. "Tramagetic Retard") that slowly release the active ingredient but this would mean going on a regular dosage all the time.

Last but not least, you can apply for a dispensation from a doctor, a document that states what medication you are on and that you are allowed to drive the vehicle under stated dosages. Not sure how possible this is in your case, but it is mentioned in several documents.

Sources:
https://relis.no/content/4765/Bytte-...-til-forerkort
https://www.spondylitten.no/regelver...ing-medisiner/

No, I really doubt they do.

Pretty sure that it's your job as a tourist to know the rules and laws of the country you visit, rather than their job to inform every single airhead entering the country.

Why not rather ask a Norwegian doctor? Maybe a Norwegian doctor know the Norwegian laws better than a English one. Or the common Freak for that sake. Allthough Dodecha's answer is a good one.

I have some personal experience with this, and I can tell you that the laws for driving on prescription drugs -- especially painkillers like opiates -- are EXTREMELY tight. This also goes for far less potent drugs like antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, and similar drugs.

The rules are kind of contrived and hard to understand. If you take one drug of a certain type you can get away with a certain dosage, but if you take two drugs the dosage you are allowed goes down, but to what excent depends on the drugs in question. It only gets more convoluted the further down the rabbit-hole you go.

The only thing you can do to be sure that you're not fucking up is to ask a Norwegian doctor, or someone who has sufficient knowledge of the field to give you a reliable answer.

No, a UK doctor doesn't have the authority to give you a dispensation for driving.
A Norwegian doctor has to do an evaluation and then, if he sees you fit to drive in your situation, he will apply for a dispensation with the Fylkesmann (google translates it as County Governor).

Source: Helsedirektoratet