Cocaine Use Rising in Rogaland – NRK Report

– Today we will have random urine tests for drugs.

Jørgen Moseid Lorentzen speaks to a packed classroom of recruits in the Madla camp.

He is flotilla master with one additional follow-up responsibility for drugs and doping agents.

Now he wants to take a random sample.

Ten completely random recruits are called up. These are taken out of class and asked to urinate in a plastic cup.

– Rapid tests are not evidence in the criminal sense, but they give us a clear indication of drug use.

The tests can result in substances such as amphetamine, opiates, MDMA, fentanyl, methamphetamine, oxy, tramadol, hashish, marijuana and cocaine.

The latter has become a regular.

– We are seeing an increase in cocaine use. We see an increase in the number of samples that are positive for cocaine, says Lorentzen.

Drugs on the schedule

At KNM Harald Haarfagre in Stavanger, they train soldiers for both the Navy, the Air Force and the Home Guard.

The armed forces have zero tolerance for the use of drugs.

At the same time, the number of positive cocaine tests in the Madla camp is so high that the employees believe there is a great need for prevention.

One of the measures is random rust testing.

In 2025, approximately 4,500 recruits met for service in this camp. Around 12 percent of all of these were tested for drugs.

Out of 536 urine samples, 76 recruits gave positive rust tests at the camp last year.

The findings show clearly overdose of cocaine.

For the past three years, the camp has found it necessary to carry out drug tests, both during and after deployment, for everyone who is in service.

– The armed forces carry out a number of risky activities. And then we cannot accept that someone shows up at work or in military service and is under the influence of drugs, says Lorentzen.

Random recruits

– I’m not nervous. But I really have to pee, so it’s actually good timing.

William Puntervold (19) is among the recruits who were picked at random today.

Now he must submit a urine sample, which Lorentzen and his colleagues will check for various narcotic substances.

The 19-year-old thinks that is good.

– It would have been very unfair if someone got a position because they doped up on a driving test, for example, and then they are not really able to perform on their own, he says.

After the result from the quick test is ready in a few minutes.

The test showed no signs of drugs.

– It went really well. It’s a bit strange to have someone else in the room when you pee, but it wasn’t a problem, says Puntervold and chuckles.

– But does it have to be like that, that you in the military are tested for drugs?

– In a perfect world, it would have been nice to let go. But I see the necessity of it, he replies.

Fellow recruit Elise Johannessen (19) was also asked to provide a urine sample during today’s random test.

– I was a bit nervous, but it was fun to try and it went well.

– Were you worried that the test might be positive?

– Never. I knew it was negative, she replies.

No national overview

Previously, there was a separate narcotics group in the Armed Forces that carried out tests in the various military camps.

After it was shut down in 2022, it is in it is mainly up to each individual department to carry out such tests.

At the Army’s school for recruit and professional training there are few tests, says Lars Samuel Samuelsen, who is the head of the school.

– Testing is carried out based on suspicion, he says.

In the defense, searches are normally carried out during raids and during random inspections.

But how often and how many are tested varies.

“Unfortunately, we have no national statistics,” says Trine Sylju Arntsen, who is head of communications at the Norwegian Armed Forces’ personnel and conscription center (FPVS).

Arntsen says that when they have discharged soldiers from initial service, they have logged it with an end code that applies to several reasons.

They therefore do not have an overview of how many have been dismissed due to drug use.

Now the Norwegian Armed Forces are announcing changes.

– We have seen that this is information that should be made more easily available and have now started to conduct this in a different way. So by the end of 2026 it will be possible to get a full overview, she says.

Will not be reported

Other military camps in Norway are now looking to Madla Camp and have expressed a desire to adopt the system from Stavanger for their own department.

Lorentzen clarifies that the scheme in the camp is not about punishment, but about trust.

– The armed forces have no intention or mandate to punish the soldiers in these situations, only the police have the opportunity to do so.

– You only take a small selection of recruits, why not all?

– The little we do today is extremely resource-intensive. The tests do not cost much, but you must have competent people who have the time to complete this in a busy everyday life.

– Do you report recruits who have used drugs to the police?

– No, we don’t. We depend on people being honest with us. Those who serve have a duty to provide information and a duty to report, he says and adds:

– If we threaten to report them, then there are probably many people withholding information. We are human, everyone can make mistakes. The focus is not punishment, but we must be able to trust each other.