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

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).