At a portable cabin in Porto, addicts queue up to use heroin and crack cocaine in safety, with medical staff on hand. The government-funded service ... provides them with clean needles, strips of aluminium foil, and other materials to facilitate their drug-taking and prevent infections. The overarching ethos of the centre revolves around harm prevention. The centre ... serves as a highly visible flagship of Portugal's long-standing policy of drug decriminalisation. Motivated by a widespread belief that the war on drugs was failing, the country's lawmakers agreed to decriminalise the acquisition, possession and private use of small amounts of drugs [in 1999]. Since its inauguration, Porto's centre has clocked up 63,000 visits from more than 2,000 drug users the vast majority of whom use either crack cocaine or heroin. Only two overdoses have occurred, both of which were treated successfully on the spot. [Psychologist Diana] Castro also points to the 1,500 or so screenings undertaken, and the 89 individuals now receiving treatment for hepatitis C as a consequence. About 10 people have also entered detox programmes of their own volition. All those caught by the police with class A drugs are required to attend a government-run "integrated response" clinic, where their use levels are assessed and a treatment programme proposed. These clinics house psychotherapists, psychiatrists, social workers, pharmacologists and primary healthcare specialists.