When an ice addict attacked Vesna Ergarac at her own home, pulling her to the ground and nearly knocking her unconscious, she thought she was going to die.
She lay on the concrete with blood bubbling from her mouth thinking her two young daughters would be growing up without a mother.
The alleged attacker was a man known to the family, and is due to face court for the assault. Ms Ergarac is speaking out because she desperately wants to see a change to the system, where habitual offenders are placed into rehabilitation, voluntary or forced. Her comments will contribute to the ongoing public debate about the treatment of those with mental illness in the criminal justice system.
It was a fine November evening when the man came to her house, but one that ended in tears and tragedy for the Canberran.
While she believes he didn't intentionally harm her, she said his hallucinations were wreaking havoc with reality. Ms Ergarac was pulled to the ground where she hit her face and mouth on a concrete step.
"He was saying things that didn't make sense when he walked in, and I was thinking, 'this does not sound good'," she said of the moments before the attack.
Ms Ergarac had swelling to her lips and bruising to her face, and is facing the possibility of losing her two front teeth due to the alleged assault.
But her main concern is for the safety of herself, her daughters and the community. Despite what he's done to her, Ms Ergarac said she felt sympathetic towards the man. She believes if he is sentenced to prison, he won't get the proper help he needs.
"I'm very sad for him, but I'm also very mad with how the system is handling these offences," Ms Ergarac said.
"Yes, he's committed an assault and he needs to be accountable for his actions and face the consequences, but he first needs to get off the drugs," she said.
"In jail they get even more screwed, and they have access to drugs in there. Then the sentence ends, they leave, get unleashed on society in a worse state than they were when they went in. Somebody like myself is going to end up losing their life."
An ACT government spokeswoman said there were at least nine specific programs aimed at drug abusers available to prisoners at Canberra's jail, and mental health plans were developed for each individual prisoner on arrival.
One of the complex factors considered before starting these voluntary programs was readiness to change, the spokeswoman said.
The ACT government maintains there is adequate provision of recovery focused services.
Ms Ergarac, who is considering moving house due to the trauma she went through, said the system wasn't working. She is calling on the government for urgent reform.
"If you keep putting people like that in jail and not giving them proper rehabilitation you are being negligent because these people are a danger to society," she said.
"It has been too many cases, too many. I just had to fall a different way and I could have been dead."
ACT Policing detective sergeant Mark Rowswell, leader of the drugs and organised crime team, said it was all too often those around the drug user were left to pick up the pieces.
He said the police focus was on dealers, to try and stop them ruining people's lives. Getting dealers off the street helped, even if it's just one at a time, he said.
"It is helping the ones that are going to be buying the drugs at that time. It removes the drugs from the streets so they can hopefully get out of the cycle and get some help."
According to statistics, almost one in four drug charges laid in the ACT from April to October for possessing or dealing was in relation to amphetamines.