Cocaine should be legalized because it would allow pharmaceutical companies to oversee production and implement quality control, preventing the product from being contaminated with harmful and deadly additives, as it is on the streets today. Cocaine is currently produced under a jungle canopy in a stretch of dilapidated sheds, no doubt contaminated with other substances and harmful microorganisms, when it could be made in sterile labs.

The US has spent $1 trillion on the War on Drugs since its inception in the 1970s and continues to spend $47 billion annually. Can anybody here suggest something better we could be spending that money on?

In Mexico alone, over 30,000 deaths occur annually due to drug cartel violence, including targeted attacks on police officers. 341 officers were killed in 2023, and several hundred more officers lose their lives fighting drug traffickers in Colombia.

Legalize it—the fight is over. If there is no illegal trafficking, we can save lives.

Should we even discuss the strain on the prison system that would be lifted by discontinuing the incarceration of people for petty drug possession?

Legalizing cocaine and treating it as a public health issue rather than a criminal one could save lives, reduce violence, free up billions in government spending, and alleviate pressure on the prison system. The resources currently poured into fighting a losing war on drugs could be better used to support healthcare, education, and economic development.