On Monday, Dubbo MP Dugald Saunders, Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Treasurer Dominic Perrottet announced $7.5 million would be included in the upcoming NSW budget for a rehabilitation centre.

The push for the facility was recently renewed, but for people like Pat O'Callaghan and Jimmy Forrest, it's an issue that has been around for more than 20 years.

Mr O'Callaghan is the principal solicitor at Western NSW Community Legal Centre and Western Women's Legal Support Service.

"I've been practicing in Dubbo for 20 years. We've had discussions about it ever since I've been here," he said.

Mr O'Callaghan wants to see not only a rehabilitation facility, but a corresponding drug court.

Mr Forrest, an Aboriginal Family Wellbeing and Violence Protection Worker at the Dubbo Neighbourhood Centre, has been to endless meetings about the drug court, a youth Koori court and a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre.

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He's seen the link between drugs and domestic violence.

"They need money to pay for their habit and they spend all the money then issues come along, then violence comes along. That's when they start fighting," Mr Forrest said.

He believes rehab would help break that cycle.

For Dubbo deputy mayor Stephen Lawrence, the push for a rehab centre started in 2010. It came after Magistrate Andrew Eckhold made comments about how he was being forced to keep people in custody because there wasn't a drug court and rehabilitation centre.

A drug court attempts to address the underlying drug dependency which has resulted in criminal offending. It is an alternative to sentencing options like jail for people who commit non-violent offences.

In 2010, Cr Lawrence was working at the Aboriginal Legal Service.

"In that job, you meet hundreds of people, you meet their families, and I grew quite quickly to understand on a human level, the damage that is being caused by not having [a drug court and rehab] here," he said.

"You wouldn't be human if you weren't moved by that."

Mr O'Callaghan says jails are not working.

"Jail has its place and there are a lot of people in society that need to end up there, but it's a small percentage of overall people we see," he said.

In his experience, the abuse of alcohol and drugs, which can lead to criminal behaviour, is often a by-product of traumatic experiences like domestic violence.

"Responses that we've seen, and we've been seeing for a long time, is that prisons as a way of dealing with people who are committing crimes in various forms don't work, and they haven't worked for a long time," Mr O'Callaghan said.

"As long as you continue to use that as a primary way of dealing with people's issues that aren't justice related or criminal related, you're going to continue to see failures in terms of outcomes.

"Access to facilities, such as drug and alcohol detox and a rehab facility, is a crucial way for them to be able to manage the issues that they've got going on in their life that are primarily health-based issues, not criminal justice-related issues."

Mr O'Callaghan said to keep people out of the criminal justice system, the roadblocks in their lives first needed to be addressed.

The solicitor said he had dealt with "hundreds, if not thousands" of clients throughout the years who would welcome the opportunity to access rehabilitation.

"We don't have the resources here in Dubbo to be able to help that person engage with the program that they absolutely need and want to engage with. Their life circumstances are going to make it very difficult, if not impossible, for them to do it after relocating," Mr O'Callaghan.

He gave the example of a single mother who had been in a violent relationship and had been introduced to drugs by their partner. If they were able to get out of the relationship, going to a local rehab would ensure their children were nearby, resulting in a better outcome.

"It's frustrating. And that's why I will continue to advocate that jail is not the answer."