Cocaine
Source: DEA
Colombian soldiers pose with the body of Pablo Escobar, the most infamous member of the Medellín cartel, who was killed in 1993
Source: Public Domain
In the 19th century, coca earned the interests of entrepreneurs who created tonics, such as Vin Mariani, that infused the plant into an energy drink.
Source: Public Domain
In 1886 John Pemberton used cocaine to produce Coca-Cola as a non-alcoholic herbal remedy to compete against the French Vin Mariani and as a response to the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in Atlanta, Georgia.
Source: Public Domain
A poster seeking information regarding alleged Mexican drug traffickers
Source: Public Domain
A 1935 U.S. government advertisement warning about dangers associated with marijuana
Source: Public Domain
President Richard Nixon, who declared a U.S. 'war on drugs,' meets with Elvis Presley in 1970. In a handwritten letter, the singer asked to be appointed as a 'Federal Agent at Large' in the drugs battle.
Source: Public Domain
A U.S. Border Patrol agent reads Miranda rights to a Mexican national arrested for transporting drugs
Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
An advertisement for Coca-Cola, which originally contained cocaine
Source: Public Domain
Drugs seized by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard in 2008 and valued at more than $220 million
Source: U.S. Navy
A submarine for smuggling drugs that was seized in Ecuador in 2010 near the Colombia border
Source: DEA
U.S. forces intercept a vessel in the Caribbean suspected of smuggling drugs in 2003
Source: U.S. Navy
An anti-drug operation in Mexico in 2007
Source: Diego Fernández
This antique Cadillac in today's Havana stands as a reminder of Cuba's presence at the heart of the intercontinental cocaine trade in the 1950s. The Cuban capital once had the most Cadillacs per capita of any city in the world.
Source: Flickr/ Tony Hisgett
A Bolivian holds a coca leaf, which is traditionally chewed by the indigenous population
Source: Agencia Brasil/Marcello Casal Jr.
An nineteenth-century advertisement for medicinal cocaine
Source: Public Domain
Marijuana
Source: DEA
