The women aged in their 30s and 40s are educated and organised, and experts say their numbers are growing.
Last night, one of those women, a university-educated business owner with a loving family, opened up to 9News about 10 years spent living a double life with a dark secret.
She turned to methamphetamine in her mid-20s to escape fertility struggles, a marriage breakdown and undiagnosed ADHD.
Things quickly escalated. Now 41, today she'll be sentenced to up to four years for her crimes.
"By going to dealers every day or going to a smaller dealer, you're putting yourself in a lot of danger. They're risky people," she said.
"And to mitigate that risk, I started buying bigger amounts and I then had a group of people who were happy to give money to go buy bigger amounts."
The woman was dealing the drug she was hooked on, but keeping up appearances.
"I'm very family oriented, so I was there for every event," she said.
"Always maintained the job, the house, the car, the phone, you'd see me walking the dog at the park.
"But all of this other stuff was happening at nights and on the weekends and underneath all of that."
The turning point came when a friend's ex alerted police.
The woman, now 41, was arrested and charged with 10 offences including possession and intent to sell and sent to Melaleuca Women's Prison for three months.
Whitehaven Addiction Clinic has seen an influx of what its workers describe as average women in their 30s and 40s who dabble in drugs then escalate to dealing.
"Typically, they've gone through some sort of life-changing events like divorce or relationship breakdowns," program director Tabitha Corser said.
"And I think that because of the nature of that, it tends to be that they create a whole new sort of identity."
Corser said it was important to show people drug use was something that was "fixable".
"We need to be encouraging, not just women, but men as well, who are looking at problematic drug use and saying, 'Look, it's actually not something that's out of the norm'," she said.
The convicted woman said it was important to destigmatise drug use.
"No matter if you're using or whatever state that you're in, you still need to be able to talk to people and go and get help," she said.
She accepts what she did was wrong.
"I accept the amount of damage that it's done to the community and my part in that," she said.
"But I'm also able to forgive myself. Because that's important for me, to be able to forgive myself."
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