Prescription drug diversion is becoming a lucrative business in regional and rural Australian communities and is escalating due to methamphetamine withdrawal

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).