drug deal

plural drug deals

1. An illegal business transaction where cash or something else of value is exchanged for illegal drugs, usually conducted in a clandestine manner.

   Synonyms: dope deal

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see drug, deal.

   Agrichemical interests, not part of the drug deal, were advised to pursue their own bill,

   1985, Jack Doyle, Altered harvest: agriculture, genetics, and the fate of the ...

   5 more examples

   A new drug deal of mammoth proportions which has excited the liveliest amount of interest in the wholesale and retail trade in Cincinnati, and throughout the State, has just been consummated.

   1902 March 1, American druggist and pharmaceutical record, volumes 40-41, page 152

   Several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have denounced the lack of transparency in a multinational HTV/AIDS drug deal for developing countries.

   2001, West Africa, numbers 4258-4273

   There is little downside to the drug deal – the losses involved are profits from potential future sales of patented drugs.

   2005, John English, Ramesh Chandra Thakur, Andrew Fenton Cooper, Reforming from the Top: A Leaders’ 20 Summit, page 36

   After 2004 two deals were brought to market, 2005 has welcomed its first drug deal already in January.

   2005, Alexander Kirsch, Securitization of Intellectual Property as a Funding Alternative, page 53

   The drug deal reached among the countries appeared to be a temporary relief to the developing countries.

   2005, P. K. Vasudeva, World Trade Organization: implications for Indian economy