Such a sad story.
Unfortunately, that group of people there to help Jason can only do so when Jason determines that he is ready to help himself.
Any addict will tell you of the moment that they took that fist drink, hit, pill or whatever and “were kissed by god”.
Any recovering addict can also recall that moment when they decided to retake control.

I hope that for Jason, his family and friends that moment comes sooner rather than later

Yes Rob very interesting, and examples could be multiplied by the thousand, perhaps hundreds of thousands.

However we need to understand that, while the system as a whole is ineffectual, wasteful, and even destructive, from the point of view of each of those state agents personally it is a successful outcome to flick this case into someone else's inbox. They still get paid the same for a lesser amount of work, and there is no cost to them of their failure to perform. The only cost is to people who have no choice whether to pay for this dysfunctional and anti-social behaviour, except to go to prison instead. Some social justice eh?

Finally a story that highlights the utter dysfunctionality and gross waste of money that the social security network is.

Three and a half years ago I had the unfortunate chance to see the workings of Centrelink and associated services up close. It is appalling.

If there is one area that needs a big clean up and reorganisation it surely is the severly neglected social services.

It costs an enormous amount of money, but I would bet that a very very large amount of money is wasted: on administrative cock-ups, duplication (over and over) and not to mention the small forest of trees that are cut down for each case in letters that get sent out.

I'm well educated and articulate, could enrol in tertiary institutions, apply for loans, sit through panel interviews for job applications, but I had to admit defeat with the barage of paperwork, over and over and over with Centrelink.

Luckily there were friendly staff to help me. The funny thing is that I had many different answers to the same questions. It is one gigantic unorganised mess without any, absolutely none, coordination between services.

Jason's story is played out again and again

Stories like this are always demoralising. How do we help someone like Jason who faces such an uphill battle.

Perhaps it is time for some tough love approaches. Rehabilitation for severely drug aggected to be enforced over a longer period and to include skills training/confidence building and a job at the end of the program. Include long term accommodation (more public housing)after the program to aid in getting users on the road to permanent recovery.

Yes, it will take money but better to invest in it now than continue with increased crime rates that affect us all. Many police I have come into contact with over the years through work all say the same thing - home burglaries and other theft related crimes are nearly always related to drug addiction.

No answer will be perfect, I fear when it comes to the drug afflicted. We should also look more closely as to why the take-up of mind-altering substances has grown, and as anansi noted, a review the current social supports. Societies that are selfish and obsessed with material wealth are not the best ones to raise children into healthy well adjusted adults.

It makes me angry when I hear people asking how are "we" going to "help" Jason avoid the consequences of his own decisions and actions. What they mean is how are the police going to enslave the rest of us to make Jason dependent and the political classes more powerful and parasitic.

*If* you were talking about doing it on a voluntary basis, fine. But you're not. Why should other people be taxed so Jason can have housing free or at a reduced rate? Why should they be taxed to pay for his "rehabilitation"? Why is this a public problem? Why is it not a private problem? Why should not all contributions to solve it by voluntary?

And always the answers proposed are more government, more powers, more taxes, more meddling that just build vast dysfunctional empires of arbitrary power. I can't believe that people would identify this anti-social behaviour with 'social justice'. It seems to me the opposite.

We should be looking in the opposite direction. What laws and policies can we get rid of, that will enable Jason to look after himself without being dependent on the state?

We could start by abolishing the minimum wage. It is precisely people like Jason that these laws most discriminate against. "We" are essentially saying to him: "it's better for you to be unemployed, depressed and hopeless on $200 a week, than in gainful employment, making a contribution to society that people are actually willing to pay for, and gaining skills, at the market rate for your services;" on the ground that the market rate is lower than an utterly arbitrary rate dreamt up to government bureaucrats in league with anti-competitive guilds and unions, who are able to sacrifice Jason's interests to their own and call it social justice.

Unfortunately Wing Ah Ling it is a private problem but one that affects all of us if the crime rate grows or a drug affected person runs into your car under the influence.

I know what you are getting at but what you argue is what we have now and it is obviously not working.

No-one was identifying this anti-social behaviour as social justice.

The reason why we give Jason a hand up is to get him off the drugs, in a job and in a house. Without a secure home address Jason will just end up on the streets and around and around we go again.

There could be a system whereby Jason can earn his 'keep' in the drug rehab centre if we link the drug centre to a business enterprise. The system could also require participants to share the duties of caring for the grounds, kitchens and facilities similar to a group house situation.

What suggestions can you make Wing Ah Ling to improve on this situation. How will abolishing minimum wage help? It will make it worse.

Reducing wages will provide no incentive for those on benefits to get off them.