Until they were outlawed (cocaine, heroin) or regulated (morphine) they were sold freely but then drug addiction problems were unknown or ignored.
Even for the moral of the time those who did morphine were preferred over alcoholics who created problems with fights and more.
Would it ever be possible to legalize cocaine and heroin? And would that end the multibillion-dollar drug trade?

I think it was Oregon who basically made hard drugs legal and overdoses boomed....

I've been there...You legalize pot and kids will experiment with it and its a very short step to experimenting with the next drug...

I say no

It's similar to prohibition. Gangsters took advantage of the demand for illegal alcohol and began bootlegging, or trafficking the illegal substance. Gangsters earned exorbitant amounts of money selling this illegal liquor.

I think idiots here in the past have defended junk pushers and claimed all the victims deserved it...I don't remember that special guys name , but he can refresh it for us

I can't see defending a drug dealer, but I can understand the point of view that they may have. Whoever said the victims deserved it was over the top on that point. As for Furio's point that drug addiction was not as widespread when drugs were legal, I don't know what to think about that. I am against legalizing heroin or cocaine, and any other drug in that category.

I could see things such as cocaine being made legal to be put back in Coca Cola. Like a small 25 mg serving of coca leaf or something being allowed by the company but other than that I can't see anyone legalizing cocaine at the federal level.

Weed and hashish should be legal at least soft drugs.

When coke and heroin was legal the medicine didnt know the addiction problems,now instead would be treated as alcoholism is treated.

Dentists still use a small amount of cocaine in some procedures.

Pharmaceutical Cocaine is also used in eye surgery,as well as other legit medical purposes.

Here's an interesting little tidbit about the processing of the coca leaves
.
Coca-Cola includes a coca leaf extract as an ingredient prepared by a Stepan Company plant in Maywood, New Jersey.

The facility, which had been known as the Maywood Chemical Works, was purchased by Stepan in 1959. The plant is the only commercial entity in the United States authorized by the Drug Enforcement Administration to import coca leaves, which come primarily from Peru via the National Coca Company.

Approximately 100 metric tons of dried coca leaf are imported each year. The cocaine-free extract is sold to The Coca-Cola Company for use in soft drinks, while the cocaine is sold to Mallinckrodt, a pharmaceutical firm, for medicinal purposes.

Send me his card

Cannabis should not be classified at all as an illegal drug. It should have the same prohibitions as alcohol or tobacco. Remove all the silly taxes, though. Smokes should be $2-a-pack and be advertised with cartoon camels.
Opiates and methamphetamine should be prison for use and possession and death for trafficking. That would include doctors and pharma companies that over prescribe painkillers. A special task force/death squad should be assembled to shoot all tweakers on sight.
Cocaine should be semi-legal, so long as it is used only with booze, the way god intended.
Psychedelics should remain illegal, but with a silent code of non-enforcement.
Designer drugs like ecstasy are a grey area, although the club music that often accompanies their use should be dealt with in a draconian manner.

I've heard of patients with uncontrollable nose bleeds getting the booger sugar in the nose. I was never present for it.