Trump Has Dropped the Price of One Thing: Cocaine

By Jacob Weindling | September 17, 2025 | 12:47pm

Photo by The Drug Users Bible

Economy The War on Drugs

Trump Has Dropped the Price of One Thing: Cocaine

I am hijacking this phrase from a friend, but it’s too good to keep hidden in a group chat: Trump 2 really is the “Oops All 1980s” administration. Trump’s melting brain is forever stuck in that decade, still fearing Japan as China takes the handoff from him to become the globe’s 21st century power. All his policies have long been animated by a worldview stuck in a time of VCRs, and the irony is not lost on me that he is now pursuing a 1970s-style yo-yo fiscal policy that will inevitably lead to our own 1980s-style Volcker shock. Now the Wall Street Journal is out with a new report today, really driving home how badly Trump wants to make it 1982 again.

“Cocaine sold in the U.S. is cheaper and as pure as ever for retail buyers,” reports the WSJ. “Cocaine prices have fallen by nearly half to around $60 to $75 a gram compared with five years ago, said Morgan Godvin, a researcher with the community organization Drug Checking Los Angeles.” Beef prices may be at an all-time high while coffee prices are way up and entering price discovery mode while farmers enter a “recession” because Trump is trying to violate Brazil’s sovereignty, but hey, at least his insane war on drugs led to “the price of pure cocaine plummet[ting].”

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This is something of a supply and demand issue, as the Trump administration’s war on fentanyl has opened a lane for drug kings like Nemesio “Mencho” Oseguera. His Jalisco New Generation Cartel displaced the famed Sinaloa, because they specialize in cocaine while their fentanyl-based competition is being put out of business by the Trump administration. “‘Mencho’ is the most powerful drug trafficker operating in the world,” said Derek Maltz, interim chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration this year. “What is happening now is a pivot to much more cocaine distribution in America.”

The 1980s are back baby! Maybe this is part of Dr. Oz’s plan to help America lose weight, by turning cheeseburgers into a luxury item while cocaine vending machines pop up on every corner. Inflation may be slowly rising and showing up in producers according to JPMorgan and last month’s Producer Price Index, but at least an eight-ball is affordable for the common man again. Put another Trump victory on the board!

In all seriousness, this just goes to show you how our current model of drug enforcement does not work. We can do the tough guy shtick all we want, but this is a fundamental problem of demand and natural supply, and no amount of guns and ammo will stop people from getting high. We need a more comprehensive and holistic form of drug treatment, and impending New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Department of Community Safety is a good start. Enforcement of one drug just pushes the demand to another, and we wind up with a world where ‘I did coke because fentanyl wasn’t available’ is the logical outcome of your drug enforcement policy, as Trump is effectively picking and choosing cartel winners now.