consumers of any product. consumers of chocolate are responsible for... consumers of electronics are responsible for... consumers of cotton are responsible for...
there's only so many options consumers really have. there are somethings you cannot vote with your wallet. blaming addicts teeters precariously towards victim blaming.
So the best is to minimize consumption, and obviously things like drugs, travel, and many things are not essential products
If legalized, the cost of distribution would crater to that of other products, just a few dollars per kg.
it's like saying: "it doesn't cost pollution to buy those avocadoes grown in another continent since they're already there", it's true immediately (above all if very ripe), but in the mid-long term, reducing consumption reduces production & pollution (at all level of the chain)
You can industrialize its production and get close to sugar level production pricing and distribution. Sugar sourced from Brazil hits my Toronto supermarket shelf bagged at CAD$1.50/kg at 99.9% purity, including retailer markup. Which is like 1/50000th the retail price of cocaine.
Even if it costs 10x as much due to lower volume/weaker extracts/slower growth/additional processing, you're talking a 99.9something% reduction in resource expenditure per dose.
Price of something is a good representation of the resources destroyed ("costs") in its production.
You can chew out the sugar or cocaine if you like.
(I think coca needs an acid base extraction to get a crystalline form, but that’s straightforward chemistry at scale)
If crude juice is extracted in Brazil and refined in Canada, I’m surprised that it is viewed as cost-effective to transport so much unneeded liquid by sea.
Sea transit is cheap, sugarcane grows better in the tropics than beets in cooler places. Harder to harvest below-ground stuff.
Canada used to subsidize/protect sugar beet producers (to keep them competitive), but largely got out of it.
Maybe that’s why we still refine it: because the plants still exist.
Nope it's not possible and it's more than obvious way.
The cocaine content in coca leaves is 0.23% to 0.96%. Sugarcane has a magnitude or so higher sugar content.
Cocaine is not a synthetic drug. Been around long before any human was walking around.
Yeah, have fun with that. I'm going to enjoy my life!
The choise is yours. I personally would go with (2) option, but its just me.
Before anyone hit the downvote button, think about it in math. You only have limited amount of resources and energy. How you distribute it, is up to you.
They are not victims and even the addicts are not absolved of responsibility for their actions.
If an alcoholic drives drunk and kills someone, they don’t get an exemption.
If you buy cocaine from dealers known to be violent, you don’t get an exemption either. More generally, if you buy cocaine that comes from a violent cartel (most of it), you’re supporting the cartel.
It’s a party drug, you have a choice. Check yourself into rehab if you don’t.