After years of advocacy,however,the sector is hopeful the government will bring opiate treatment into line with the rest of the scheme on Friday.

Better Access Australia chair Felicity McNeill said anything less would not be good enough.

‘People think we’re weak at one end,or evil at the other end,and that we don’t deserve[help].’

Leah McLeod

“The way these patients[are] being treated[is] likely to be unlawful. Multiple coronial inquiries specifically found the lack of affordability of these medicines was leading to people not taking them and dying,” she said.

In some circumstances,when people can’t afford the private payments,their pharmacy covers the cost.

“This is just the one group of medicines where patients have been denied their rights,and the supply chain hasn’t been paid or remunerated either,” she said.

“There are about 57,000 people seeking treatment,and another 200,000 people needing treatment. They deserve the same as everyone else. They need to be equal in their access to the PBS.”

For McLeod,the differential treatment has had an emotional toll and is a daily reminder of a stigma that has never gone away.

“You’re always being thought of as the person who stole,you always carry that,no matter what you’ve done over the years. People think we’re weak at one end,or evil at the other end,and that we don’t deserve[help],” she said.

“The fact that we’re separated out,as if we’re not part of the normal health system,it upsets me close to tears. That feeling that our lives aren’t important,that our kids aren’t important,that we aren’t worthy – that hurts as much as the money.”

With methadone costing $60 a week each for McLeod and her partner,she has been forced to choose fast food over fresh food,her daughter has missed out on school excursions and any housing deposit they may have saved has been eaten up.

“The stuff we’re balancing that money against is money for our kids ... What if I had been able to put that money into housing,or a future for her?”

Gino Vumbaca from Harm Reduction Australia said the cost hit people on JobSeeker or fixed incomes particularly hard.

“It’s something we have never understood – with all the documented issues that happen with people who become heroin or opioid dependent,why would you make treatment harder to reach? There’s no economic justification for that,even if you discount the social and health benefits,which are quite high and evidence-based,” he said.

Vumbaca said it was hard to deal with underlying social issues when people were using opioids every day.

“What these programs offer is a break in that. They stop that chaotic lifestyle or treadmill people are on with dependence ... Treatment provides a much better return on investment than anything else for people dealing with drug and alcohol problems,” he said.

Senator David Pocock,who has been advocating to make the treatments more affordable,said people should not have to make tough decisions about whether to stay on treatments or buy groceries.

“I raised this with the government last year and I’m confident they will make the changes needed to ensure these medicines are accessible to those who need them.“

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weeklyInside Politics newsletter here.