Patients attending the syringe exchange programme of Malmö, Sweden, and who are using heroin as their primary drug of abuse and who live in the catchment area of Malmö Addiction Centre, will be addressed, and patients willing to participate will undergo a baseline interview and will be referred to medical examination for decision to start substitution treatment to treat heroin dependence. Half of patients will be randomized to a strength-based case management intervention, hypothesized to facilitate treatment entry, and half of patients will be randomized to a control condition involving only referral.