Fuck you assholes and your notion of "taxing the shit" out of everything. When did government revenues become the #1 motivator in this country?
It's mostly part of a misguided idea that people will abuse the shit out of drugs if they are too cheap. Bulk cocaine would be as cheap as hell. Think of buying a 20 pound bag of cocaine for $20 at Costco.
Of course it's totally wrong when we remember that caffeine pills are cheap to the point of almost being free and people don't abuse them. Most people would rather pay $5 for a starbucks coffee than pay $0.02 for a caffeine pill with the same amount of caffeine. Sort of like how you go to the bar and drink 1 beer; you don't slam 20 in a desperate attempt to get falling down drunk every time.
If they really want to regulate how much drugs people consume, do what they do with over the counter drugs. Put it in a binder that tastes
horrible. If you put a bunch of ephedrine pills in your mouth, you'll gag because of how horrible it tastes. That's done for a reason - you can't put a bunch in your mouth and swallow them all at once.