The result of a merger between the National Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research, Oslo
(SIFA) and the documentation department and library of the Department for Alcohol and Drugs at the Directorate for Health and Social Affairs, SIRUS opened operations on January 1, 2001.

SIRUS is an independent research institution with its own Scientific Advisory Board, whose responsibilities include formulating the institute’s overall research policy. At the same time, SIRUS is a government body answerable to the Ministry of Health and Care Services.

Besides research, SIRUS is also collects and publishes documentation, status reports, facts and figures, etc. In line with this, SIRUS has a national specialist library on drug and alcohol related issues.

The institute is the Norwegian Focal Point for the Lisbon-based European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).

SIRUS currently has forty employees (26 are scientific staff, 8 technical staff and 6 management staff).