Harm reduction is the right way to treat drug abuse

TWENTY YEARS ago Lisbon’s Casal Ventoso neighbourhood was the biggest open-air drug market in Europe. But since 2001, when Portugal decriminalised most drug use, the number of addicts has plummeted, and these days one has to know where to find them. One recent evening, three outreach workers from CRESCER, a charity that helps drug users, trudged up a hillside carrying bags of clean syringes, saline solution and pastries. In a grove of cane plants, half-a-dozen people were smoking crack or injecting heroin. A gaunt man leant over a friend’s face, helping him plunge a needle into his neck.