I've always wondered, why is coke so expensive? there is tons of it everywhere! other drugs are harder to make and yet they are cheaper?
Extracting the cocaine may not be a very difficult process, but smuggling large quantities of it into nations that have establishments set up specifically to counter such activities is. I speculate this is where much of the mark-up comes from.

Its a tragedy to even think why people want to try those man made drugs like coke and heroin. Someone I know once said the first time she tried coke, she wanted it again really badly like after 10 minutes and she stopped it. It is a very physically addictive drug!
Perhaps even more tragic is how many people believe that cocaine is a 'man made drug'. Cocaine occurs in nature, in the erythroxylum coca. Although it could also be synthesized in a lab like any other chemical compound it is much more practical for the cartels to let nature do the synthesis and then simply extract it. Thus it can be said that virtually if not all cocaine on the streets is of natural origin. Also, it is not really physically addictive but psychologically addictive. It is also not very difficult for normal people like me to blow some snow or even smoke crack on the occassion, without any strong desire to do anymore. Of course anything that makes you feel good is desirable but I refuse to believe that any prudent individual could become instantaneously addicted to cocaine, and I base this on much more than just what some girl told me.
Heroin on the other hand is physically addictive, but not before frequent use of the drug. It is a semi-synthetic opiate derived from morphine which is entirely natural. The only thing that seperates morphine from heroin (aka diacetylmorphine) is the addition of two acetyl groups from reacting with acetic anhydride. This addition makes it easier for diamorphine to cross the blood brain barrier thus making it more potent and, unfortunately, more addictive.