Huge Drug Bust in PA - Why $20 Million of Cocaine is Just Chicken Feed

This article by the Associated Press is typical of the headlines that the War on Drugs filters through the media and into the mass consciousness. $20 million worth of cocaine discovered in a routine traffic stop. Sounds like a lot, right? More interesting to me are some of the behind-the-scenes statistics and policies involved. For example, why is 200 pounds of cocaine worth $20 million? As a product, cocaine isn't much harder to grow than coffee. They thrive in similar climates and, in fact, they're both drugs. I'm not trying to trivialize the negative effects of cocaine, or to imply that cocaine should replace coffee as one of the world's morning rituals. Rather, I am attempting to point out what should be obvious: what we term as a "drug" is largely arbitrary. The definition of a drug tends to be vague, along the lines of this entry from Webster's dictionary: a substance other than food intended to affect the structure or function of the body. It could be argued that this definition is broad enough to encompass high fructose corn syrup, or even vitamins and minerals. Which "drugs" are labeled as illegal is arbitrary as well. Prescription drugs are good, (arbitrarily labeled) "illegal" drugs are bad. Well, ask Rush Limbaugh if that distinction is an accurate one.