Dr O'Neil first pioneered the use of Naltrexone - a drug which blocks the craving for opiates, such as heroin and methadone - almost 20 years ago. The 68-year-old has been called everything from a medical maverick to a backyard quack because Naltrexone implants have not been approved by the relevant regulatory body, the Therapeutic Goods Administration. But John doesn't care if the treatment is unconventional or controversial; after four years of meth addiction, he sees Dr O'Neill as his last hope. Not your typical drug addict I look for the signs of meth abuse – the thinning body, rotting teeth, acne or sores - but there's nothing to give it away.

The 28-year-old is not some homeless, poverty-stricken addict - he is a strikingly good-looking male who openly admits that he had a good education at a prestigious Perth private school. The only hint something is amiss is his rapid-fire speech, which slows to a soft cadence when he fears someone is listening in. A patient getting a Naltrexone implant. Credit:James Mooney John said he was able to maintain his habit by earning more than $200,000 a year in a high-flying job in the oil and gas industry as a fly-in, fly-out worker. I'm free for the first time in my life. I'm free and that feeling is everything.

"I was doing four and one, and every week I came back I would blow $12,000 on hotels, travelling and meth," he said. "That was $200,000, maybe $250,000 in a couple of years." He is supportive of the federal government's push to randomly drug test 5000 Australians applying for welfare payments as part of a host of welfare reforms. Those who fail the drug test for methylamphetamine, marijuana and ecstasy will have their payments quarantined and instead be put on cashless welfare cards. "I think it would definitely help because when my Centrelink payment comes into the bank account I go to my dealer's house and I buy a half ball and I sell a little bit and the rest is free smoke," he said

"Before I know it, a week later I've got no money for rent and I find myself going back to my parents. "It would minimise my use if I had a welfare card, because I could only use it for Coles or things like that. At least I could buy my food for a week." One day in the front line Inside the clinic there is an uncomfortable, hectic urgency as patients shuffle their feet and hands while filling out forms in a drab, uninviting, bright white room. It's barely 9.30am on Wednesday and already 33 addicts have "walked off the streets" looking for help.

It's a full house. It's confronting and horrifying to think so many people have turned up searching for some microscopic vestige of relief. Dr O'Neill is well aware Naltrexone implants have had its critics, with University of Adelaide Professor Jason White once labelling his program as "unethical and disturbing". In 2012, a NSW coroner slammed a Sydney detox clinic after it found three patients being treated for heroin dependence died after having Naltrexone implants. But a federal parliamentary committee in 2015 praised the treatment for drug addicts and called for a clinical trial as a matter of urgency.

Dr George O'Neill. Credit:James Mooney Dr O'Neill produces the implants in a factory around the corner from his Subiaco clinic, but relies on money from the state government, charities and churches to fund the $20 million a year program. He has 11,000 people on the books, and the list is growing by the day. The outspoken doctor is also a big fan of Social Services Minister Christian Porter's drug-testing trial for those seeking welfare payments. "I'm delighted Christian Porter is coming up with new ideas and living dangerously and introducing something new," he said.

"He's obviously going to do screening somewhere and it's the same thing that's happened in the mining industry for workers to see if they can work properly. "As for the people who are on Centrelink - the majority - probably more than 50 per cent are drug or alcohol dependent and that's a terrible problem." Dr O'Neill also believes giving people on the dole welfare cards would work. "The welfare card means it's a bit harder to barter with your dealer when he wants cash," he said. "Dealers usually want cash. There will be barter systems, but it will be hard to barter food with a dealer. It will decrease the abuse that goes on.

"Currently for those people that are drug dependent the money gets spent the first day of the week so there isn't the chance to make good decisions - so it has a really bad effect on the children and families. "It is potentially a good thing if the information is used effectively." Kicking the habit Nartasha Bianchi had been a meth user for 23 years before she stumbled across Dr O'Neill's clinic. She has been clean for more than two years because of the Naltrexone treatment but doesn't believe drug testing people on welfare would work.

"I do know for a fact that a lot of people on welfare are definitely on drugs and I know the way that they work," she told WAtoday. Nartasha Bianchi was a meth addict for 23 years. Credit:James Mooney "One person will get paid and that person will shout everyone. Then the next person will get paid and that person will shout everyone and that's how they survive during the week. "A lot of people on the dole and the disability pension are users. "They don't have control over their brain or their body, so if you take their money away they will have no choice but to commit crimes to support their habit.

"If you put them in a treatment facility and take their money away it will work." The 37-year-old said during the height of her drug use she would spend around $600-a-day on meth. "I went through a state of psychosis towards the end," she said "My son saw that and he loves me and doesn't hold that against me but it has to have caused some sort of trauma. I have to deal with that when it comes out. "I'm lucky I didn't steal, I didn't bash people, I didn't rob people, I didn't do that stuff so I don't have a criminal record. I don't have to answer to any that kind of stuff."

Ms Bianchi, who has spent $20,000 on three separate implants said she has tried a lot of treatments, but in the end the only thing that helped was the Naltrexone. "Because I had been on the drug for so long, my thinking had been 'meth, meth, meth' and I could not get control of my brain," she said. "The drug had totally taken control. "So instantly after I woke up from the Naltrexone implant I didn't think about meth - the thoughts were gone. Loading

"I'm free for the first time in my life. I'm free and that feeling is everything." * John is not his real name.