Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/22820
Title: Prescription drug diversion is becoming a lucrative business in regional and rural Australian communities and is escalating due to methamphetamine withdrawal
Contributor(s): Usher, Kim  (author)orcid ; Conway, Jane  (author); Baxter, Emily  (author); Woods, Cindy  (author)orcid 
Publication Date: 2018
DOI: 10.1111/inm.12458
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/22820
Abstract: Prescription drug diversion, or the transfer of legally obtained prescription medications for illegal use, is an emerging problem that is especially problematic in disadvantaged groups and rural and remote communities in Australia (National Pharmaceutical Drug Misuse Framework for Action 2012-2015). While the problem of drug diversion has received attention since the mid- nineties (Inciardi et al. 2009), it has escalated in recent years in the USA (Dobkin & Nicosia 2009) and Australia to that of epidemic proportion in some areas (Victorian Health 2012). This emerging problem involves a variety of strategies undertaken to obtain the medications including doctor shopping and visiting a range of pharmacies with the intent of on-selling the drugs for a profit, theft of medications from community members, extortion of locals, 'shorting' (where the number of pills dispensed is less than prescribed), pilfering by pharmacists or assistants, and prescription theft and forgery (Cicero et al. 2011; Inciardi et al. 2009; National Pharmaceutical Drug Misuse Framework for Action 2012-2015). A recent media statement by the Rural Doctors Association claims older people in Australia are selling their prescription medications to supplement their income while others are being bullied into handing over the drugs for on-selling by community members (Barbour 2017).
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 27(2), p. 467-469
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia
Place of Publication: Australia
ISSN: 1447-0349
1445-8330
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 111099 Nursing not elsewhere classified
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 420599 Nursing not elsewhere classified
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 920414 Substance Abuse
920209 Mental Health Services
920210 Nursing
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 200499 Public health (excl. specific population health) not elsewhere classified
200305 Mental health services
200307 Nursing
HERDC Category Description: C2 Non-Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article
School of Health

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