Terrible analogy. fentanyl requires a prescription to get access to it. There are well defined processes for this.
Until the SEC defines what sort of requirements there are to purchase crypto (like the FDA has [0]), coinbase isn't doing anything illegal by selling it.
Part of the Wells Notice is around the Coinbase Earn stacking service, which is staking ETH. That's what the SEC is going after and which Gensler can't even answer is a security or not.
ETH might not be a security, but staking ETH is almost definitely one.
Dollars and orange trees aren't securities, but as soon as I start 'staking' dollars and orange trees into financial instruments which earn rewards, it becomes a security.
Asking 'Is Eth a security?' is asking the wrong question. Asking 'Is <some particular use of Eth> a security?' is the right question. Gensler was in the process of giving such an answer, and was interrupted ~40 times in that four-minute clip. It's really quite embarrassing.
Bad analogy because Coinbase isn't you. Coinbase is a licensed securities dealer. So that would be more like a licensed drug distributor asking the DEA how to get a license to distribute fentanyl to hospitals. And the DEA would happily answer them.
Until the SEC defines what sort of requirements there are to purchase crypto (like the FDA has [0]), coinbase isn't doing anything illegal by selling it.
[0] https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2019/01...