Working with adolescents with substance abuse is a complex matter that is in need of resources, personnel, and cooperation. This study presents a research project in which different factors of discretion are studied in the social work of adolescents with substance abuse. The results show that discretion of social workers of adolescents with substance abuse is mostly dictated by resources, motivation and norms. Resources play a role in discretion regarding time for patients, factors regarding organizational factors in the need of cooperation, which works inconsistently between different organizations. Organizational goals do not seem to factor into discretion. Norms are what gives a certain amount of discretion, which seems to be changing in adolescents. This makes the discrepancy between adolescents' conception of drugs and the criminalization of drugs difficult for the social worker. This study emphasizes how different factors play a role in how social workers view their discretion in its context as well as how norms play a role in how discretion is formed in the organization.