International Journal of Drug Policy 9 (1997) 159 – 167 Diversion tactics: how a sample of drug misusers in treatment obtained surplus drugs to sell on the illicit market 1 Jane Fountain *, Paul Griffiths, Michael Farrell, Michael Gossop, John Strang The National Addiction Centre, 4 Windsor Walk, London SE58AF, UK Received 31 October 1997; received in revised form 31 December 1997; accepted 30 January 1998 Abstract This paper presents some findings from a qualitative study conducted during 1995 and 1996 amongst buyers and sellers of diverted prescription drugs in London. It details the tactics sellers employed to obtain drugs surplus to their own requirements in order to sell them on the illicit market: they acquired more than one prescription (‘multiple scripting’) and/or obtained a prescription for a higher dosage and/or a wider variety of drugs than they intended to use themselves (‘overscripting’). Informants exploited the lack of a standardised prescribing policy by ‘doctor shopping’, whereby they searched out those most likely to prescribe the drugs and the quantity they wanted. The methods most commonly used to acquire a surplus were to exaggerate a habit, bargain with prescribers, give a false identity, gain the sympathy of prescribers, feign addiction, and pretend to be a temporary resident. To conclude, some costs and benefits of diversion and its control are discussed. © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Drugs; Illicit market; Addiction 1. Introduction In Britain, opiate addicts in treatment obtain substitute drugs — usually methadone and benzo- diazepines — on prescription from National Health Service (NHS) specialist drug treatment agencies, and general practitioners (GPs). Al- though the majority of GPs are reluctant to treat drug misusers (Department of Health, 1996), ‘shared care’, a system of support that, hopefully, will encourage more GPs to do so, is currently being debated (Deehan et al., 1997). A minority of opiate addicts are treated by private practi- tioners—a service for which they must pay. Those private practitioners who choose to treat drug misusers are more likely than NHS sources to prescribe drugs other than methadone and benzo- * Corresponding author. 1 The study from which this paper was taken was funded by the Department of Health. However, the views expressed are those of the authors, and not necessarily those of the Depart- ment. 0955-3959/98/$19.00 © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII S0955-3959(98)00013-9