Western banks 'reaping billions from Colombian cocaine trade'

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7. The notion that drugs can/should be "illegal" is a recent invention.

All of history is what happens when drugs are legal.

The argument is that decriminalization removes the barriers to entry and reduces "costs of distribution" greatly, and since most drugs are in fact very cheap to produce, think aspirin, or easy to grow yourself, think pot, that will drive the high profits out of the business, and it's all about the money, it's always been about the money, if you don't get that it's all about the money, then you just aren't getting it at all. Western capitalist style economies are always built on high profits from high markups on essentially cheap to produce products: rum, sugar, tea, coffee, spices, tobacco, opium, slaves, coca, etc.; or outright theft where there is something worthwhile to steal (gold, silver, and other natural resources.)