I can only go off what I'm seeing and hearing with my own eyes and ears here in the UK, and while cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana take the top 3 drug spots if you want to call it that, then cocaine is definitely a close 4th.
Have you been around functional coke addicts? They are far more productive than functional alcoholics. Cocaine is a brutally addictive drug, but it sure can create a high functioning human being. Alcoholics on the other hand are just useless when it comes to actually getting work done in a timely manner.
Cocaine is still seen as a highly addictive drug. I don't know many people that see it as a minor drug. It may not be seen as too bad of a drug like meth or heroin because there are people that do function with it.
There's no doubt for me that people still see cocaine as an highly addictive drug, but people see that about smoking cigarettes, smoking marijuana, drinking alcohol, it doesn't stop people doing it though. That's the same with cocaine. People see it as a social drug, and go into any pub or nightclub, anywhere in the world and you'll see people taking it. We can pretend it's not popular, but if we did we'd be lying to ourselves.
I come from a conservative community where marijuana otherwise known as bhang is generally regarded as a hard drug. Cocaine consumption is actually crossing the red line. It is mostly used in medical circles to alleviate pain in cancer patients and others with chronic pain or fibromyalgia. Law enforcement agents are usually hot on the heels of peddlers and consumers of hard drugs though the vice is prevalent due to runaway and rampant corruption.
I doubt it even tho wealthy and sometimes powerful people use it. This is something usually done behind the scenes. You don't see people offering you a line to sniff everyday. A lot of people could be doing it but aren't open about it. I don't think it's as acceptable as most things.
While cocaine use isn't as common as drinking alcohol or smoking cannabis, where I live you could go into any of the pubs and clubs and get offered cocaine and that's the reason I'm saying I think it's becoming more acceptable. Where I live is a mixture of classes in society aswell, and cocaine is used across the board so it's not just limited to the ones with the most money either.
I think cocaine use is still seen as a taboo... no employer would think that is acceptable. I'm sure of that. Plus it's super risky to start using this crap, when you least think about it... you are already using several times a day. It might give you a boost, but is not worth it... better drink a redbull if you want to study or work all night. But whatever you do, don't mix redbull with cocaine use. For God's sake.
I think people aren't getting what the term acceptable means. People are saying it's acceptable to use cocaine, what we're saying is that it's becoming that common that people are using it, it's not looked at as something out of the ordinary anymore like it used to.