America’s Opioid Crisis: How It Happened — and What to Do Now

A Public Education Video Series by Richard J. Baum

About This Course

This 17-part public education course examines how America’s opioid crisis unfolded — and what it will take to correct it.

Drawing on decades of national drug policy experience, Richard J. Baum distills the central arguments of Inside America’s Opioid Crisis: 12 Hard Lessons for Today’s Drug War into concise, structured video lessons.

The series traces the historical origins of modern drug policy, examines institutional decision-making and unintended consequences, and outlines practical reforms to strengthen prevention, treatment, recovery, and enforcement strategies.

Each video builds sequentially, forming a guided course designed for students, policymakers, journalists, and citizens seeking a clear, evidence-informed understanding of one of the most consequential public health crises of our time.

The series also encourages viewers who want to drive change in their communities to advocate for local implementation of the book’s recommendations — strengthening prevention, expanding treatment and recovery systems, increasing direct outreach to people who use drugs, improving justice–health collaboration (including “treatment-first” drug courts and police-assisted deflection to treatment without arrest), and pursuing innovative strategies to dismantle drug markets.

Course Videos

Part 1 — Welcome & Series Overview

Part 2 — Five Core Themes & Centers of Excellence

Part 3 — The Longest War

Full Course Outline

  1. Welcome & Series Overview

  2. Five Core Themes & Centers of Excellence

  3. The Longest War: How America Launched the War on Drugs

  4. Coked Up: Building the Drug War in the Crack Cocaine Era

  5. Prescription for Disaster: Purdue Pharma and the Crime of the Century

  6. Fatal Errors: Pushing Prescription Drug Users into the Illicit Market

  7. The Real Treatment Gap - Part 1: Why So Few Enter Care

  8. The Real Treatment Gap - Part 2: Increasing Voluntary Entry into Treatment

  9. Deep Recovery: Creating a Recovery-Friendly America

  10. Precision Impact: Controlling Retail Drug Markets Without Mass Incarceration or Racial Bias

  11. True Justice - Part 1: How Drug Users Respond to Losing Their Dealer

  12. True Justice - Part 2: Turning Courts, Jails, and Police into Pathways to Care

  13. Defense in Depth: Smart Border Security and International Supply Control in the Synthetic Drug Era

  14. Maximizing Impact - Part 1: The Costs of Spending Too Little, Too Late

  15. Maximizing Impact - Part 2: Building Cost-Effective Initiatives

  16. The Fentanyl Generation: Protecting Youth from Today’s Dangerous Drug Threats

  17. Series Conclusion & the Final Hard Lesson