As it stands, someone walking off the street or calling to seek help from a body such as Bendigo Community Health Services is treated by the same organisation.

In many cases it takes an enormous amount of courage for someone to admit they have a drug or alcohol problem and take such an important step in their lives.

This alone makes it essential for the welfare of the people involved that the transition from admission to treatment is seamless and as easy as possible.

Under the state government's proposal, people seeking help will have to first contact one organisation before being referred to a service for follow up treatment.

So instead of one contact they must now make two? How is that providing a better service? How is that making life easy for them?

Bendigo Community Health Services has built a fine reputation for the way it handles clients across a range of services.

It doesn't make sense that a system that has been serving the community well for so long would be tampered with in this way.