In 1972, economist Milton Friedman called for legalizing heroin on the basis of both ethics and economics. The government did not follow this advice, and the number of heroin addicts is the same as it was then due to heroin's loss of appeal for young people. Legalizing heroin would have eliminated both financial and medical reasons to avoid the drug. Cocaine and crack are currently the focus of attention, and some people are advocating legalization. If this occurs, we will have a far more serious problem with cocaine. Supporters of legalization use both logical fallacies and factual errors. Others argue that current Federal policies have failed. However, high-rate cocaine use is uncommon. In addition, an analogy with tobacco is inappropriate; tobacco shortens life, but cocaine debases it. Treatment on demand is also an ineffective solution due to the realities that addicts often do not seek treatment and that effective treatment is not available.