Plunder, Profit, and Punishment: A Syllabus on Drug War Profiteering

The war on drugs is immensely profitable — for some entities. People who use drugs have become one of the most commodified and exploited populations of a society that proves time and again that profit too often takes priority over the wellbeing of individuals. In order to successfully end the drug war and its associated harms, we have to follow the money to see who is benefiting from systematically punitive responses.

In Spring 2024, the Drug Policy Alliance hosted a four-part series to expose and name drug war profiteers and the mechanisms they use to prioritize profit over care. Building from resources shared by expert panelists and audience members, this syllabus explores how private and public companies, agencies, and organizations profit from the drug war and overdose crisis, extract money and resources from people, and plunder entire communities.

Read Plunder, Profit, and Punishment: A Syllabus on Drug War Profiteering.

Watch the session recordings below.