I agree with almost all you said polytrip, except for the being glad is illegal part. I think you should very well know by now that prohibition only increases or creates problems that wouldnt be there in the first place if it wasnt for the laws. Prohibition is perverse and automatically leads to more undesired consequences than what it pretends to solve. Prohibition also does NOT, as all the data show, diminish the amount of users, in fact the inverse, so I really cannot understand how anybody, specially you, would want any drug to be illegal if you just reflect a little bit on what that actually means.
With that being said, having lived in south america nearly all my life, I have seen the damage of cocaine and of cocaine business (and prohibition) from up close. I've seen several people get lost because of it, I've seen the horrible violence associated with it's commerce, and the general unsustainability of the whole industry. For many people living in the so-called developed countries, cocaine is associated with glamour, but to me its anything BUT glamorous. I think everyone buying cocaine should be aware that they are giving money to a VERY bad industry, giving money for the purchase of weapons and support of violence, for chemical dumping, land clearing and destruction of rainforest in unsustainable plantations, etc. Also against what a lot of people might think, money from cocaine buying does not go to poor south american farmers, those keep barely making their living. The ones who are making money are the big unscrupulous drug barons.
The way I see, its like every line of cocaine comes with the weight of a drop of blood. It disgusts me, I wouldnt touch it with a 10 feet pole and I wouldnt let anybody ever come in with it in my house.
I also think in psychological terms its unsustainable, its an ego-feeding drug that presents no positive changes in long term.
To anybody that uses it and rationalizes saying: oh but its the fault of prohibition that im giving money to the bad industry', dont be so naive. Fact is, things are the way they are, and you as a conscious (or not) consumer will have a great impact in maintaining or not this industry. One could say its the fault of the industry that there are child-slaves making nike shoes, and it may well in some part be true, but Im still not buying the nike shoes because I think whenever we buy anything, we are implicitly signing a contract that says "I accept to be morally accounted and am co-responsible for every step that happened before this substance/product got to my hands".
I highly advise those using cocaine to stop immediately, but I know that me saying so wont make any difference...
Btw, coca-leaf is something completely different, of course. Nobody will get addicted with chewing or ingesting coca leaves, its not the big drug barons making money when you get some, and neither will its effects create negative psychological changes.
and to answer the alcohol question: I also think, in a different way, the alcohol industry is unscrupulous and it shouldnt be supported. I also really dislike alcohol's effects, not only on myself but on others around me. I do not drink ever, even one drop, and I think the world would be a better place without it. But each one to his own, as long as people are not drinking and driving, being stupid on the streets, bothering others, shouting, being vandals, picking fights, (all of which are what most drunk people seem to do, unfortunately) etc... I also think its a big hipocresy that some drugs are prohibited and others are advertised. I think its a disgrace that there exists advertisement for alcohol, associating sex/fun with drinking, and to me that should definitely be prohibited (the advertisements, not alcohol itself)
