There are an estimated 10,000 drug addicts in Wales alone, with many people turning to crime to feed their habit. Drug Treatment and Testing Orders are sometimes issued by courts to offenders instead of jail sentences, in order to help them break their addiction.
It involves an intensive programme of rehabilitation and participants have to be tested for drug abuse twice a week.
In Newport, the DTTOs have been described as the 'saviour' of many of the people who have been taken onto the programme.
BBC News Online spoke to some of the people who are benefiting from the scheme.
 Andrew Ashman says things are improving for him |
Andrew Ashman, 23, has been off heroin for eight months after being addicted to the drug for seven-years.
"It is going good, things are going to plan," he said.
"It has done wonders for me, and because I have to come here every day I don't get bored, which is what was the problem before.
"Things were really bad and I often thought what was the point of living.
"It is still early days, and I'm still walking on ice, but it is thick ice and things are getting better."
"I want to get my health back and am going to the gym regularly and am planning to do a college course to train to be a mechanic," he added.
 Andrew Jenkins said that he lost everything because of drugs |
Andrew Jenkins, 29, who had been a heroin user for 10 years has not used the drug for eight months.
"This has been my saviour," he said.
"It has been a long journey to get stabilised.
"I think this has been the best thing that has ever happened to me - I would probably be dead now if it wasn't for this.
"I lost everything through drugs," he said.
Wayne Ellaway, 27, has not used heroin for five months following a nine-year addiction to the drug.
"This has been excellent for me because the time was right for me to stop using," he said.
 Wayne Ellaway is looking forward |
"I can now look forward and see a future.
"Before, the most important thing to me was yesterday and I couldn't stop thinking about the past, but now I think about tomorrow.
"I want to be able to help people like me and go into counselling because I know what it is like.
"This is definitely my saviour," he added.
Mark Saunders, 28, stopped taking heroin at Christmas after 10 years.
"I've been in prison before and was off drugs while I was inside and I had the intention not to use when I came out, but it was too hard because there was no support.
 Mark Saunders is optimistic about the future |
"This has been brilliant and the effort people are putting in for us is amazing.
"And it gives me a real buzz being clean.
"Taking drugs was good at first but it became bad very quickly," he added.
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