Is it any surprise that the cocaine cartels really want you to buy more cocaine, so they don't focus on its usefulness in pain relief and they refine it and cut it with the cheapest substances that will work rather than medical-grade reagents?

Same thing.

It's surprising that the ones who are producing the cocaine, don't try to find the best use of the cocaine, yes. But then these are VC-fueled businesses, then it all goes out the window, unfortunately. Otherwise they'd actually focus on usefulness, not just "usage" or whatever KPI they go by and share with their investors.

LLMs are drugs because they’re addictive and sap your abilities, is it?

(or generally: “Is the cocaine cartel comparison fair or unfair?”)

LLMs are fair to compare to cocaine because while there certainly could be ethical producers who follow reasonable laws and work to develop good uses, the market is completely dominated by organizations that don't.

And in my experience potheads offer you a toke and if you politely refuse, no problem at all. Coke addicts don't want to take no for an answer and insist that everybody should do it, they get so much more done, decisions are faster and better and what the hell is wrong with you if you don't want some?

So, the users are similar too.