> Proper legalization and regulation would mean it wouldn’t be sold as crack
I didn't mean to imply that it would. But from what I "know", crack is very easy to "cook" from cocaine, and is much more potent and addictive in this form. Throw cocaine in the microwave, something, something, and you have crack... So what's to stop anyone with a microwave from producing their own crack from legally regulated and obtained cocaine, and why would they want to do that instead of just using the cocaine as is? Were you suggesting that bc it's purer crack (nothing added to increase potency or mass), it's not an issue?
I also understand how crack was weaponized against certain communities, minorities, vulnerable and "undesirable" groups of citizens...
but again, I just wonder why and if individuals would start to synthesize their own crack if cocaine was legalized.
The main motivator for doing so would be to sell it more cheaply to those who can’t afford the cocaine sold elsewhere as crack requires lower dosages for effect. You’ll find this in patterns of cocaine use already, the affluent use cocaine and the impoverished are more likely to use crack. I don’t think anything changes on that front with legalization except you trade arrests for outreach. I don’t see why we should expect demand for crack would suddenly grow and become more rampant with legalization, I’d expect the opposite, but in either case the solution is outreach not prohibition.
Thanks for taking the time to explain... I have no doubt that prohibition, after demonstrating years of failure on a catastrophic scale, will not continue to work. However I wanting to get an idea of some of the consequences we might expect to see if cocaine were to be legalized/regulated.
I didn't mean to imply that it would. But from what I "know", crack is very easy to "cook" from cocaine, and is much more potent and addictive in this form. Throw cocaine in the microwave, something, something, and you have crack... So what's to stop anyone with a microwave from producing their own crack from legally regulated and obtained cocaine, and why would they want to do that instead of just using the cocaine as is? Were you suggesting that bc it's purer crack (nothing added to increase potency or mass), it's not an issue?
I also understand how crack was weaponized against certain communities, minorities, vulnerable and "undesirable" groups of citizens...
but again, I just wonder why and if individuals would start to synthesize their own crack if cocaine was legalized.