When you ask yourself what most dangerous substances are haunting our streets today, the answers spin a tangled web of chemistry, policy, and pure misfortune. From the powdery allure of cocaine to the silent, lethal whisper of synthetic opioids, every drug on this list has a dark résumé, backed by hard‑line statistics, government alerts, and harrowing eyewitness accounts.

What Most Dangerous: Defining the Threat

Cocaine is often crowned the most dangerous drug on the streets, at least according to a 1988 Los Angeles Times piece. Yet many argue that heroin claims the title. The DEA, meanwhile, warns that fentanyl is the most dangerous drug they’ve ever encountered. Their latest threat assessment also flags methamphetamines as a strong contender. Some still point to nicotine as the silent killer, while tobacco is said to claim more lives than car crashes and homicides combined. And let’s not forget alcohol, which, according to an Economist graphic, may be the deadliest of all. Charts illustrate just how grim the picture is for this liquid menace.

1 What Is The Most Dangerous Drug?

Every major drug on this roster can stake a claim to the crown of danger, depending on how it’s used and the context surrounding its abuse. Fentanyl, alcohol, tobacco, heroin, methadone, cocaine, and even synthetic cannabis each have harrowing death tolls, overdose spikes, or toxic side‑effects that make them formidable foes. History shows drug trends ebb and flow: once a substance is outlawed, it often retreats underground, only to re‑emerge in a new, sometimes more lethal incarnation. The “most dangerous” label is therefore fluid, shifting with law‑enforcement focus, market dynamics, and emerging syntheses.

2 Synthetic And Doctored Marijuana

Most people agree that plain cannabis sits near the bottom of the danger ladder, especially now that many jurisdictions have legalized it. However, the story takes a darker turn when the plant is laced or replaced with synthetic analogues. Media sensationalism once linked “zombie” outbreaks to bath salts, but a similar hysteria erupted when dozens of users consumed cannabis spiked with fentanyl and caffeine, behaving in a staggeringly dazed manner. Synthetic cannabinoids—often dubbed “Spice”—have been tied to severe psychosis, cardiac arrhythmia, liver and kidney failure, seizures, hypothermia, and a litany of other life‑threatening conditions. In 2024, a new synthetic blend called “Kush” surfaced in West Africa, reportedly mixed with nitazenes, disinfectants, and even pulverized human bones. This macabre concoction has allegedly claimed thousands of lives in Sierra Leone alone, prompting a national emergency and mass cremations. The lesson? Not all weed is created equal; adulterated or synthetic variants can be lethal.

3 Cocaine And Crack

In the 1980s, cocaine and its cheaper cousin, crack, were the headline‑making boogeymen of the war on drugs. Congressional hearings dubbed the “Crack Cocaine Crisis” in 1986, and by 1991 the phenomenon was labeled an “epidemic.” Crack’s low price made it especially pervasive, though it often arrived cut with baking soda or ammonia, reducing purity. After a dip in the early ’90s, use has surged again worldwide. In England and Wales, cocaine‑related deaths rose from a low of 11 in 1993 to 1,118 in 2023. Across the United States, fatal overdoses climbed from 3,544 in 2000 to a staggering 27,569 in 2022. In New York City, half of all overdose deaths now involve crack or cocaine. Prices have also shifted dramatically: a gram of cocaine fell from $600 in the mid‑80s to about $120 today, while crack can be purchased for roughly $65 per gram, with a single hit costing around $15. The combination of affordability and potency keeps these stimulants dangerously relevant.

4 Heroin And Methadone

No discussion of lethal opioids would be complete without heroin and methadone. While heroin’s popularity has waned in the face of fentanyl, it still accounted for 9,173 deaths in the United States in 2021. Historically, heroin began as a medicinal cough suppressant before its addictive properties were fully understood. Methadone, a synthetic opioid designed to help people taper off heroin, carries its own deadly risk. In Ireland, methadone overdoses have claimed twice as many lives as heroin in a single year. Between 2007 and 2021, more than 55,000 Americans died from methadone overdoses, averaging nearly 4,000 deaths annually. These figures underscore that even “treatment” opioids can be perilous when misused.

5 Nitazenes

Enter the nitazenes, a family of synthetic opioids that quietly lurk in the shadows. Originally crafted in the 1950s as potential morphine replacements, they were deemed too potent for FDA approval, boasting roughly 40 times the potency of fentanyl. Law‑enforcement began noticing nitazenes on the streets around 2019, and since then, about 2,000 lives have been claimed. Although this number trails far behind fentanyl’s toll, experts warn a steep rise is imminent as authorities clamp down on more familiar opioids. Nitazenes are cheap to produce and often mixed with other substances, including counterfeit prescriptions, making accidental overdoses more likely. The Chinese fentanyl ban inadvertently pushed manufacturers toward nitazenes, and their ability to be formulated in myriad ways complicates detection and testing. As the fentanyl crackdown intensifies, nitazenes may become the next wave of synthetic opioid tragedy.

6 Fentanyl And Carfentanil

Fentanyl has vaulted to the top of the drug‑danger hierarchy over the past decade. Though originally prescribed for severe chronic pain—especially in cancer patients—illicitly manufactured fentanyl has become a media‑driven boogeyman. The CDC labeled it a public health crisis in 2017. By 2020, fentanyl was implicated in roughly two‑thirds of the 92,000 overdose deaths that year, accounting for as much as 70% of all overdose fatalities. In 2022, total overdose deaths surged to nearly 108,000, with synthetic opioids (chiefly fentanyl) responsible for about 74,000 of those. Conflicting CDC data later suggested a slight dip to 81,000 opioid deaths in 2023.

One bizarre facet of the fentanyl saga is the wave of misinformation that swept law‑enforcement agencies. Starting in 2016, police were briefed with exaggerated warnings about the drug’s transdermal toxicity, leading many officers to report panic‑induced “exposures” that were medically unfounded. In reality, merely touching fentanyl does not cause fatal overdose unless a severe allergic reaction occurs.

Carfentanil, a derivative of fentanyl, pushes the danger envelope even further—being about 100 times more potent. Its primary legitimate use is for emergency tranquilization of large animals like elephants, a purpose far removed from human consumption. Yet, the illicit market has co‑opted carfentanil, making it a terrifying specter for anyone daring enough to experiment. Opioid abuse, now a century‑old American pastime, has evolved from opium in the 1870s to morphine, heroin, fentanyl, and now carfentanil, with each wave promising a new “opioid crisis” that remains stubbornly unresolved.

The following list presents 10 reasons alcohol stands out as the most dangerous substance on the planet, showing how this seemingly harmless drink can wreck lives, health, and society.

10 Reasons Alcohol Impact Explained

10 It’s The Single Most Important Factor In Ruining Life Happiness

If you’ve never heard of the Grant Study, you should know it’s one of the longest‑running sociological studies in the world. Starting in 1938, researchers at Harvard tracked the lives of 200 men and reported on their emotional and physical well‑being. Over the years, findings have included that intelligence (above a certain level) has no influence on earnings and that older liberals tend to have way more sex. They’ve also revealed that one thing above all else can destroy your happiness utterly: alcohol.

In the 2012 update to the study, Triumphs of Experience, study director George Vaillant revealed that alcohol was one of the key factors in participants’ life outcomes. More so than intelligence, more so than political leanings or how rich their parents were, alcohol was the top decider in how subjects’ lives turned out. No matter where they stood on the social spectrum, those who developed drinking problems took mostly the same path: downward. Alcoholism was the main cause of divorce in the study, one of the main triggers for neurosis and depression (importantly, the alcohol abuse tended to come before the mental problems), and tied with smoking as the single biggest contributor to an early grave. Vaillant called it “a disorder of great destructive power.”

Of course, a similar effect would probably be seen if the men had become drug junkies. But there’s no denying alcohol has other startling effects that reach beyond the murky shadows of addiction.

9 It’s One Of Our Biggest Killers

Between 2006 and 2010, 88,000 Americans died annually from alcohol abuse. That’s not a typo. Every year, the nation’s favorite drug killed more people than Mexico’s brutal drug war. According to the CDC, that makes alcohol the third leading lifestyle‑related cause of death for people living in the USA. In Britain, the figures may be even worse. According to respected scientist David Nutt, alcohol is the leading cause of death for Brits aged 16–60.

The reasons for this make for some grim reading. Although by far the highest number of alcohol‑related deaths come from liver disease and addiction, accidental poisoning and behavioral disorders caused by drinking ranked highly, too. Drunk driving also played a huge factor. According to the CDC, nearly one‑third of all fatal road accidents in the US were caused by alcohol. On average, this means drunk driving killed one American every 51 minutes. The total cost of all this carnage is estimated at over $59 billion annually—roughly equivalent to the entire GDP of Croatia.

8 It Increases Sexual Assault Rates

It isn’t just where individual health is concerned that alcohol can have a hugely negative impact. We’ve known for years that alcohol and sexual assault rates have a disturbing connection to one another.

In one widely cited Harvard study from 2004, college campuses with reputations for binge drinking had significantly higher rates of sexual assault. The team first split colleges into either low, medium, or high binge‑drinking environments. Those classified as low had less than 35 percent of the student body drinking more than five drinks in one sitting over a two‑week period. In those classified as medium, 36‑50 percent of the students did so. In those classified high, the rate was over 50 percent. The team then concluded that being female at a medium or high binge‑drinking college increased your risk of getting raped by a shocking 1.5 times. A 2013 study later found similar results.

That’s a serious increase, and it doesn’t just occur on campuses. An influential 1990s study found around half of all attackers committed sexual assaults while drunk, while half of all victims likewise reported being intoxicated. That’s not to suggest the victims were in any way to blame. There’s only one bad guy here and that’s the scumbag rapist. Nor is it intended to suggest that one beer turns all men into rape‑happy hooligans. Studies show only 3 percent of college men commit 90 percent of all campus rapes. It does show how entwined alcohol and violence can be, though, in a way it simply isn’t with other drugs.

7 No Other Drug Is As Bad For Public Safety

What would you say is the world’s most dangerous drug? If we’re talking about dangers to others, most of us would probably think of crack or meth. We would be wrong. According to a British study, the answer is alcohol.

In 2010, respected journal The Lancet published a study led by former government adviser Professor David Nutt into the dangers posed by 20 available drugs. While heroin, crack, and methamphetamine took the top places for dangers posed to individual users, one drug was found to be far and away the most harmful to society at large. According to the study, use of alcohol was over twice as likely to result in harm to others as use of crack cocaine was. Out of a possible score of 100, it scored 45, compared to slightly over 20 for heroin in second place.

The reasons for this are varied, with the researchers focusing on factors such as crime, environmental damage, family conflict, international damage, economic cost, and damage to community cohesion. While some drugs scored well in one category, alcohol was the only one to sweep the boards. Part of that may be due to its ready availability, but it’s still an astounding finding. By way of comparison, cocaine and cannabis both scored under 10 for harm to others, while ecstasy, LSD, and mushrooms scored around zero.

6 It Kills More Teenagers Than Any Other Drug

Every couple of years, some new drug will come along and whip up a media panic about teenagers. In September 2015, K2 was supposedly turning people into nude, psychotic zombies. Before that, it was Cloud 9 putting kids in hospitals. What every single one of these scare stories always glosses over is that we already have a readily available, extremely deadly drug doing the rounds among our kids. Every year, 4,300 US teenagers die from drinking alcohol.

That’s more people than died during 9/11. According to nonprofits and pressure groups such as Mothers Against Drink Driving (MADD), it’s more than are killed each year by all illegal drugs combined. Even if you think their data might be susceptible to bias (they are an overtly anti‑alcohol charity after all), if they’re anywhere in the ballpark, it’s still an enormous number. To give it a comparison point, the panic‑inducing Cloud 9 was linked to only a handful of deaths, some of which may have been falsely attributed by an overexcited media. If we can get worked up over a comparatively tiny number of deaths, all while ignoring a much bigger epidemic, it’s tempting to wonder what’s going wrong.

5 Media Bias Against Other Drugs Is Unbelievable

The media loves a simple narrative. Fitting a nuanced argument into a headline is a tricky task, so most outlets don’t even bother to try. Sometimes this reaches absurd heights, as in the case of drug reporting. Since the 1990s, it’s been utterly clear that the media’s response to drug and alcohol stories is horrendously biased at best, and downright dangerous at worst.

Between 1990 and 1999, Scotland recorded 2,255 drug‑related deaths. Curious to see how the media reported these deaths, Alasdair J.M. Forsyth compared every single Scottish news report on a fatality against the coroner reports. Of the 546 deaths that received coverage, the bias was profound. Only 1 in 72 deaths from morphine was reported, because it didn’t fit into any easy media narrative. By contrast, one in every five deaths from heroin got coverage, as did one of every eight cocaine‑related deaths. But the biggest imbalance by far came from ecstasy. Nearly every single one of the 28 deaths ascribed to ecstasy received coverage in this period, a period that just happened to coincide with a media scare in the UK. Meanwhile, only 1 in 256 aspirin‑related deaths got a similar treatment.

The point is that “bad” drugs get a disproportionate amount of press attention, reinforcing the belief that these deaths are happening all the time. In the exact same period of time, alcohol killed around 2,000 people—over 70 times the number killed by ecstasy—but wasn’t once reported as a deadly menace. As a result, talking seriously about the dangers of alcohol compared to other drugs becomes all but impossible.

4 Many Of The Alternatives Are Safer

Plenty of drugs are highly dangerous. Heroin, crack, GBH, and crystal meth can all mess you up in ways we’d rather not think about, leading to horrendous health problems. But so can alcohol. And while all those drugs are rightly frowned upon in our societies, alcohol is basically given a free pass.

The differences are even starker compared to other drugs we might consider socially acceptable. While cannabis does have detrimental health effects and may be linked with an increased risk of mental illness, it is far safer for you than drinking. David Nutt’s research that we referred to earlier placed the risk of cannabis to a user as less than half of that of alcohol. In recorded history, there has never been a single confirmed case of a marijuana overdose. The DEA has estimated you would need to smoke nearly 700 kilograms (1,500 lb) of the stuff in 15 minutes to be at risk of death. (Good luck staying awake.) Even the Dude in The Big Lebowski couldn’t manage something like that.

Other recreational drugs are even safer. The risk of death from ecstasy is roughly equivalent to that of riding a horse, while that from both LSD and magic mushrooms is essentially nonexistent (provided you don’t accidentally pick and eat a poisonous mushroom). It’d be a fool’s game to try and get people to give up drinking entirely, but cutting down becomes even harder when many of the safer alternatives are illegal.

3 The Alternatives Would Still Be Safer If Taken On A Larger Scale

One major obstacle to comparing alcohol with other drugs is that alcohol is both legal and widely available, whereas most others are not. Even in states like Colorado that passed pot legalization laws, not every city is selling, and it remains illegal in much of the country. This means there are way more drinkers than there are users of any other kind of drug.

Taking this into consideration, statistics about things like public health spending on alcohol can suddenly seem weaker. After all, some would argue that we’d see equally expensive (if slightly different) health problems if everyone was smoking pot all the time. That may not be true. In 1995, the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted a study into drugs and public health. They concluded that even if everyone started using cannabis as regularly as they do alcohol or tobacco, the effect on public health would likely be significantly lower.

That’s not to say there wouldn’t be serious health issues arising from widespread pot consumption, especially among teenagers. We’re not trying to convert everyone to be militantly pro‑marijuana here. But the overall effect would still be less than at current levels of alcohol consumption, even though most legal systems treat alcohol as the safer substance.

2 Alcohol And Child Abuse

It’s a terrible fact of life that some adults get off on abusing kids. Whether through violent sexual acts or just through miserable, half‑assed neglect, there are parents out there who do nothing but make their children’s lives a misery. Toss alcohol abuse into that mix and you’ve got the ingredients for a nightmare.

Studies have found that children who have either one or two alcoholic parents are anywhere between 2 to 13 times more likely to experience an awful situation at home. Known as adverse childhood experiences, these awful situations could be anything from living in forced squalor to seeing their mom get hit to being deliberately abused. In each case, the likelihood of that abuse increased with alcoholism. In situations where both parents were alcoholics, for example, children were 13 times more likely to grow up with a battered mother. Other studies have linked alcoholism to “profound suffering” in families.

Again, it’s not just the children of alcoholics who have crappy childhoods. Having a mom or dad who’s addicted to crack, gambling, or heroin can produce similar results. But the point is those activities are largely illegal or sensibly restricted. Alcohol is completely entwined with Western culture and its consumption actively encouraged.

1 It’s Basically Our Culture’s Fault

After reading all that, here’s a theory that might surprise you. According to respected anthropologist Dr. Anne Fox, alcohol doesn’t cause violence. She maintains there’s no proof that drinking can trigger violent acts in people. Instead, she thinks our problems with alcohol go deeper. It’s our culture that’s to blame.

If alcohol itself caused violence, we’d see uniform levels of violence across all drinking cultures. But places like Iceland drink way more and in a much more reckless manner than somewhere like Australia, all while experiencing significantly less alcohol‑related violence. Instead, Dr. Fox says that how we behave when drunk is mostly how our culture teaches us to behave. That’s potentially very worrying.

Most of us grew up in cultures that taught us getting drunk was a wonderful thing to do. In countless movies, TV shows, and books, drinking is shown as something that normal people do regularly. At the same time, we’re taught to connect this popular pastime with violence and lack of self‑control. The result is a powder keg of all worst possible outcomes. We put our own health at risk by drinking at a level we’d consider excessive if done with any other sort of drug. Then we endanger the health of others and those around us by acting out our violent, thuggish roles when we’re completely wasted.

We’re not trying to agitate for prohibition. It failed spectacularly last time, and we like the occasional drink as much as the next group of list‑writers. But maybe we need to stop this glamorization of alcohol and the violence that accompanies it. Happily, this might already be happening. In Britain at least, rates for binge drinking among teenagers are dropping sharply, and young people are becoming more sensible in their alcohol consumption. Here’s to hoping the trend continues.

The estimated value of the US pharmaceutical industry was $446 billion in 2016, and its R&D spend per employee dwarfs any other sector. Yet many breakthrough medicines emerged not from meticulous planning but from serendipity, wild experiments, or sheer luck. Below are the top 10 crazy drug origin stories that illustrate how the unexpected can reshape health care.

10 Chlorambucil

Chlorambucil, an antileukemia agent approved by the FDA in 1957, traces its roots back to the horrifying use of mustard gas on World War I battlefields. Decades later, as the world braced for another global conflict, Yale researchers were probing treatments for mustard‑gas exposure when they observed that soldiers who had inhaled the agent displayed markedly reduced white‑blood‑cell counts.

This observation sparked the insight that nitrogen‑mustard compounds could be harnessed to target malignant white blood cells, halting their uncontrolled proliferation. Subsequent investigations refined this concept, culminating in the creation of chlorambucil, which remains a staple in the fight against certain leukemias.

9 Viagra

Viagra’s meteoric rise to fame is inseparable from its pop‑culture status, yet its birth was far more modest. The tale began in Merthyr Tydfil, a modest Welsh town, where scientists were testing a novel drug intended to prevent angina. Volunteers reported an unexpected side effect: more frequent erections.

Further investigation confirmed that the angina medication was responsible for this phenomenon, leading to the development of the iconic “little blue pill.” Marketed in 1998 as the first oral therapy for erectile dysfunction, Viagra has since become one of the world’s most prescribed medicines.

8 Botox

Everyone knows Botox for its ability to freeze faces, but the neurotoxin’s origins are far less glamorous. Derived from a purified form of the botulinum toxin that causes botulism, Botox was initially employed to treat muscle spasms, especially in patients with eyelid or vocal‑cord twitching.

When physicians observed that the drug also softened the brow area, its cosmetic potential exploded. Today, Botox procedures number in the millions annually in the United States alone, cementing its status as a staple of modern aesthetic medicine.

7 Smallpox Vaccination

In the late 1700s, Edward Jenner made a monumental contribution to public health by developing the first smallpox vaccine. Smallpox, notorious for its high mortality and disfiguring facial scars, had previously been mitigated only by variolation—deliberately inoculating material from an infected individual, a risky practice that still caused deaths.

While practicing in a rural English village, Jenner noticed that milkmaids who contracted the milder cowpox never fell ill with smallpox. Recognizing that exposure to a less dangerous virus could confer protection, he pioneered vaccination (from the Latin vacca, meaning “cow”). The World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated in 1980, marking the only disease ever eliminated globally.

6 Lithium

The treatment of bipolar disorder—once termed manic‑depression—has evolved dramatically, but for much of history sufferers were confined to asylums. In 1948, Australian psychiatrist Dr. John Cade took an unconventional route, testing the long‑debunked theory that urea was linked to mania. He collected patient urine, stored it in his kitchen refrigerator, and injected it into guinea‑pigs.

When he later introduced lithium urate—a highly soluble lithium salt—into the animals, they became noticeably calm. Cade even tried the substance on himself, noting a soothing effect. This serendipitous experiment laid the foundation for lithium’s status as a cornerstone mood‑stabilizer in modern psychiatry.

5 Penicillin

While Alexander Fleming’s accidental discovery of penicillin in 1928 is widely taught, the story of its development into a lifesaving drug hinges on Ernst Chain and Howard Florey. In the 1930s, the Oxford team delved into Fleming’s mold, devising ways to cultivate it on a large scale.

Their inventive methods included repurposing old dairy equipment and even using Marmite as a growth medium. One particularly quirky technique involved fermenting cantaloupes, which proved effective enough to launch clinical trials. Recognizing its potential, the U.S. military mass‑produced penicillin for the D‑Day invasions, saving countless soldiers and cementing the antibiotic’s place in modern medicine.

4 LSD

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is best known as a Schedule I hallucinogen, yet its origins lie in pharmaceutical research. Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 while searching for a circulatory stimulant, a pursuit that initially yielded no promising results.

Five years later, Hofmann revisited the compound, inadvertently absorbing a tiny amount from his fingertips. He described an “uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures” and vivid, kaleidoscopic colors. Three days after this accidental dose, he deliberately ingested a larger amount and rode his bicycle home—a day now celebrated as “Bicycle Day.” Though initially a symbol of 1960s counterculture, recent studies suggest LSD may aid in treating post‑traumatic stress disorder.

3 Disulfiram

Commonly marketed as Antabuse, disulfiram deters alcohol consumption by provoking nausea and a rapid heartbeat when mixed with ethanol. Danish researchers Jens Hald and Erik Jacobsen originally investigated the compound as an antiparasitic agent.

During a post‑work cocktail gathering, both scientists sampled small amounts of alcohol after handling the drug and became violently ill, prompting the realization that the compound could serve as an aversive treatment for alcoholism. Earlier, rubber‑industry workers had observed a similar reaction, but the link to disulfiram was not established until these accidental experiments.

2 Cisplatin

Cisplatin, a cornerstone therapy for testicular cancer, boasts cure rates approaching 90 percent. Its anticancer potential was uncovered by U.S. chemist Barnett Rosenberg in the 1960s, who was originally probing the impact of strong electric fields on E. coli bacteria.

Rosenberg noticed that platinum electrodes, not the electrical current itself, inhibited bacterial cell division. He realized that the compound—known historically as “Peyrone’s chloride”—had profound effects on cell replication. This serendipitous discovery elevated cisplatin to a premier anticancer drug worldwide.

1 Warfarin

Warfarin’s saga began with a tragic cascade of dying cattle, rodents, and a botched suicide attempt before it became the world’s most widely used anticoagulant, prescribed to roughly 1 % of adults in the United Kingdom.

In the 1920s, a mysterious hemorrhagic disease struck cattle in the northern United States and Canada. Investigators traced the cause to moldy silage made from sweet clover, but the episode was initially dismissed. In the 1940s, Wisconsin researchers Karl Link and Harold Campbell isolated the anticoagulant compound from sweet clover, developing it into warfarin, which was first marketed as a rat poison in 1948, causing fatal internal bleeding in rodents.

Human use emerged in 1954 after a U.S. military recruit survived a failed suicide attempt involving warfarin, demonstrating that the drug could be administered safely at lower doses. One of its earliest human patients was President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Today, warfarin is a mainstay for preventing strokes and treating clot‑related conditions.

Why These Top 10 Crazy Drug Origin Tales Matter

Each of these ten stories showcases how the unexpected—whether a battlefield chemical, a bicycle ride, or a laboratory mishap—can spark medical breakthroughs. The “top 10 crazy” narratives remind us that curiosity, chance, and a dash of serendipity are just as vital as rigorous research in the quest for life‑saving therapies.

There’s a reason the state can’t defeat the cartels—and it’s not just that people love drugs. It’s also about technology, which the state no longer controls. The 10 law evading tech employed by drug syndicates illustrates exactly how they stay one step ahead of law‑enforcement.

10 Law Evading Tech Overview

From low‑tech tricks that turn a police chase into a circus act, to high‑tech gadgets that make radar screens look like children’s toys, cartels have turned the battlefield of the drug war into a laboratory of innovation. Below, we break down each gadget, weapon, or method that helps them slip through the cracks of the legal system.

10 Tire Punchers

Even though they look primitive compared with the high‑tech arsenal of modern cartels, tire punchers earn a spot on this list because they flip a classic police tool on its head. Where officers once used caltrops to cripple a fleeing vehicle, the narco‑world now loads spikes into tubes and slams them onto their own customized rides, sending pursuers spiraling into a ditch.

The devices, known locally as ponchallatas, can be surprisingly sophisticated. Some consist of a simple cluster of sharp nails welded together so that, no matter how they land, a point always sticks up. Others are cut from sheet metal, with hollowed‑out spikes and perforations designed to maximize deflation speed. In short, they’re a modern twist on an ancient weapon.

The use of ponchallantas is most closely tied to southern Texas, the traditional turf of Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel. Between 2008 and 2013, these spikes were deployed an estimated 80 times, stopping police vehicles dead in their tracks and turning a routine stop into a high‑speed nightmare.

9 Drones

In 2021, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) took the sky by storm, using hobby‑grade drones to drop explosive payloads on police officers in Michoacán. Each unmanned aircraft was fitted with a remote‑controlled hook that released a container packed with plastic explosives and ball bearings, complete with a tiny parachute cup to steady its descent.

These aerial bombings are as much a show of force as they are a tactical move. The cartels film the attacks, upload the footage to social media, and use the videos as a way to broadcast their power to rivals and the public alike.

More often than not, however, drones serve a quieter purpose: surveillance. Cartels use them to scout police movements, monitor rival gangs, and ferry small drug parcels across short distances, turning a cheap gadget into a versatile tool of the trade.

8 Tanks

Los Zetas pioneered a road‑warrior vehicle they call the monstruo, or “monster”. This custom‑built narco‑tank packs gun turrets, battering rams, and four‑inch‑thick steel armor onto a chassis that can look like a regular pickup. Some are built from the ground up, while others are retrofitted from existing trucks, but all are engineered to be virtually impervious to standard police weaponry.

Often referred to as rinocerontes (rhinoceroses), these beasts of steel serve as both a status symbol and a battlefield asset. Their camouflage mimics that of Mexican army vehicles, making it difficult for authorities to distinguish friend from foe. Cartel crews emblazon their initials—CJNG, for example—on the hulls, turning each monster into a rolling billboard of power.

Costing more than two million pesos (about $117,000) each, the monsters are a serious investment, but the numbers speak for themselves: by 2015, 40 had been seized nationwide; since 2019, that figure jumped to 260 in Tamaulipas alone, underscoring how rapidly the technology has proliferated.

7 Cannons and Catapults

Sometimes the oldest tricks are the most effective. To fling contraband across heavily fortified borders, smugglers have mounted “medieval‑style” catapults onto trucks, turning them into mobile launchers capable of hurling packages up to 300 metres. This method mirrors tactics used in Afghanistan, where similar devices sling opium across the Iranian border.

Cartels have also turned to compressed‑air cannons, which can propel loads at speeds of roughly 300 miles per hour, reaching distances of up to 700 metres. While not a primary transport method, these cannons act as a reliable last‑ditch option when conventional routes are shut down.

Both the catapult and the air cannon illustrate the cartels’ willingness to blend antiquated siege engines with modern engineering, creating a hybrid arsenal that keeps law‑enforcement guessing.

6 Tunnels

In 2015, notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán shocked the nation by escaping his maximum‑security prison cell via a mile‑long underground tunnel. The passageway featured lighting, ventilation, and even a motorbike on rails, turning a subterranean shaft into a fully functional escape route.

Beyond high‑profile escapes, narco‑tunnels are a staple of smuggling operations. While the exact number remains a mystery, law‑enforcement agencies have uncovered 15 such passages over the past two decades, each designed to ferry massive drug shipments beneath the most fortified sections of the U.S.–Mexico border.

One of the most elaborate tunnels stretched from Tijuana into San Diego, lying 35 feet underground and allowing cartels to move large quantities of narcotics beneath a heavily fortified segment of the border wall, effectively rendering that stretch invisible to patrols.

5 Stealth Aircraft

Between 2006 and 2011, Mexican authorities seized more than 400 aircraft linked to cartel smuggling—outnumbering the entire Mexican Air Force. These planes, often single‑engine high‑wing Cessnas, were modified with metal plates under the nose to protect engines from gravel and oversized tires for rocky landing strips.

In recent years, cartels have shifted toward low‑altitude ultralight aircraft that can slip beneath radar detection. These hang‑glider‑like machines carry drug‑laden steel baskets, are painted matte black, and fly without lights under the cover of night. Pilots rely on night‑vision goggles and follow road networks, dropping cargo at illuminated zones before disappearing again.

Although ultralights can’t transport the massive loads of larger planes, they have a distinct advantage: they’re effectively untouchable by authorities, as shooting them down would be illegal under most jurisdictions.

4 Arms

When cartels build their own weapons, they sidestep government oversight entirely. A busted gun factory in Jalisco revealed a workshop stocked with “highly sophisticated machinery” and “very precise software,” enabling armorers to produce untraceable AR‑15 components from raw aluminum blocks.

Beyond in‑house manufacturing, cartels also assemble assault rifles from parts smuggled in from the United States, creating a hybrid supply chain that blends domestic ingenuity with imported firepower.

Looking ahead, many analysts predict a shift toward 3‑D‑printed firearms, a technology that could make weapon production even more clandestine and difficult for authorities to intercept.

3 Submarines

While most people associate submarines with nation‑states, a Colombian cartel took the concept to the extreme in 2019. A 21.5‑meter fiberglass “narco‑sub” crewed by an amateur boxer and two Ecuadorian cousins set sail from an Amazon shipyard, traveling 3,500 miles to the coasts of Spain while carrying three tons of cocaine.

The vessel, essentially a luxury undersea yacht turned drug‑smuggling platform, was cramped and inhospitable. Most of the interior was devoted to cargo and fuel, leaving a tiny, noisy, and foul‑smelling cabin for the crew, who survived on energy bars, rice, and sardines, while coping with constant concerns about leaks and detection.

Despite the hardships, this sub became the first narco‑sub to reach European waters, earning the nickname “Che” and demonstrating that even the deep sea is no longer off‑limits to cartel ingenuity.

2 Surveillance

Firepower alone can’t win a drug war; information can. Cartels have built clandestine CCTV networks that tap into rival gangs’ communications and even the state’s own telephone poles, creating a makeshift narco‑NSA that watches everything from police stations to government offices.

In Reynosa, the Gulf Cartel operates a unit called “Ciclones,” an intelligence and command‑and‑control faction that runs encrypted, anonymized camera feeds. In 2015, police uncovered 39 of these hidden cameras, which had provided crystal‑clear views of military installations, law‑enforcement buildings, and civilian neighborhoods.

On the U.S. side of the border, cartels once deployed up to 300 scouts on mountain‑top “spider holes,” relaying real‑time intel over encrypted radio networks built by kidnapped engineers. This blend of high‑tech surveillance and low‑tech fieldwork keeps cartels one step ahead of any interdiction effort.

1 Propaganda

To truly sidestep the law, cartels aim to replace it in the public’s mind. They flood TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube with glossy videos that showcase exotic pets, lavish cash piles, armored cars, speedboat chases, and even Grand Theft Auto‑style airdrops, all set to upbeat Mexican music. These clips garner millions of views worldwide, turning criminality into a glamorous lifestyle brand.

Beyond social media, cartels employ classic infowar tactics: kidnapping or murdering journalists who criticize them, forcing media outlets to self‑censor, and even publishing cartel press releases as news stories. While some of these releases highlight genuine human‑rights abuses by the state, they always serve a pro‑cartel agenda.

Other propaganda tools include narcocorridos (ballads glorifying cartel exploits), graffiti, blogs, banners, and public demonstrations, all designed to win hearts, minds, and recruitment numbers for the next generation of smugglers.

Drug lords must live by the proverbial sword. Often they die by it too. Cartel leaders and local drug runners know the nature of their business. Those at the top must be ruthless to retain power. When it all ends, many kingpins enter the afterlife on their own terms. With untold wealth earned during their lives, some of these smugglers spared no expense in death. Others entered the afterlife amid mystery and conspiracy. But they all left a mark as they left this realm.

So let’s look at how these drug lords met their end and where to find their final resting places—maybe.

Related: Top 10 Bizarre Ways People Smuggled Drugs

10 Felix Mitchell

Felix Mitchell was a street legend in Oakland, California. “Felix the Cat” turned a local heroin hustle into a drug empire that earned millions. By the 1980s, he was infamous for ruthless violence. Police claimed he killed or ordered the deaths of six people. Prosecutors caught up to him, though, and by 1985 he was imprisoned. The following year, Mitchell was stabbed to death by another inmate. His murder came two days before his 32nd birthday.

Mitchell’s funeral made headlines across the world. His two-hour funeral procession featured a horse-drawn carriage, Rolls Royces, and limousines. Ushers and attendees wore tuxedos. Mitchell’s coffin cost more than $6,000. City officials condemned the celebration, but nearly 2,000 people attended the funeral. Thousands more lined the streets to watch as Mitchell was taken to his resting place in the nearby city of Richmond.^[1]

9 José Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha

José Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha was brutal to his enemies but helpful to his hometown. The Colombian drug lord was beloved for funding various public projects in the city of Pacho. In 1989, the Medellin cartel underboss and his son were killed in a shootout with police. They were buried, but two days later, their bodies were exhumed and returned to Pacho. When Gacha’s body arrived home, 15,000 people took to the streets to mourn their local hero. After the public procession, the kingpin’s family held a private late-night funeral. Gacha was reportedly buried in an intricate wooden coffin.

Over the next few years, residents of Pacha started noticing a man in town who looked a lot like Gacha. The mystery man was said to have even attended the drug lord’s birthday memorial. Locals whispered that the funeral was suspicious for being held late at night and with a closed coffin. Ever since, many have wondered if Gacha faked his death.^[2]

8 Amado Carrillo Fuentes

Amado Carrillo Fuentes was known as the “Lord of the Skies” in his life. The drug runner was famous for using private jets to transport cocaine. The Juarez cartel leader’s sudden death in 1997 shocked the world: it came during plastic surgery.

Supposedly, the kingpin had been altering his appearance to escape justice. Fuentes’s final resting place in Mexico’s Culiacán state is incredible. The three-story mausoleum cost more than $415,000. It holds a 50-seat chapel and two burial chambers. But it may not hold Fuentes. Investigators have always wondered whether the secretive drug lord is really inside. Rumors swirl that one of his henchmen lies there instead. A few months after his funeral, the mystery deepened when the corpses of Fuentes’s plastic surgeons were discovered in barrels of concrete.^[3]

7 Ramón Arellano Félix

In life, Ramón Arellano Félix spent years on the FBI’s Most Wanted Fugitive List, right next to Osama bin Laden. But the long arm of the law found Félix by the end of 2002. That year, Mexican cops tracked down the Tijuana cartel boss and killed him in a shootout. At least they thought they killed the dangerous drug runner. The man thought to be Félix was carrying an ID card that claimed he was “Jorge Pérez Lopez.”

Authorities prepared to investigate further when someone claiming to be a family member of the deceased took the body from the funeral home. The corpse was quickly cremated before police could step in. Félix—or whoever—was lost to history. Police did the next best thing, testing DNA from blood left on the dead man’s clothes. When tests came back, cops announced they were “virtually certain” the dead man was Félix. But with no air-tight confirmation, the mysterious cremation continues to baffle.^[4]

6 Arturo Beltrán Leyva

Arturo Beltrán Leyva was known as “The Boss of Bosses” during his career smuggling cocaine from Mexico to the United States. His luck ran out in 2009 when he was killed by Mexican forces in a surprise raid on his compound near Mexico City. Distraught supporters hired a private jet to fly his body back home to Culiacán state. His funeral was an unusually low-key affair. To avoid police harassment, no men attended the event.

While Levya’s memorial may have been small, his trip to the afterlife was not. The drug lord’s two-story mausoleum is said to resemble a mansion. The tomb has two bedrooms and a kitchen. It is filled with Leyva’s memories, as well as guns, cars, and other things he owned in life. It even has satellite TV, air conditioning, and a Wi-Fi connection.^[5]

5 Heriberto Lazcano

Heriberto Lazcano was a Mexican Special Forces soldier who switched sides. He became a valuable assassin for the Gulf Cartel when he was killed in a shootout in 2012. Cops took fingerprints and DNA samples after his death. But days later, the corpse was stolen from a funeral home.

The Mexican government was adamant they killed Lazcano. They even dug up the graves of the hitman’s parents to confirm a DNA match. However, the results are sealed until 2024. If Lazcano really was the one killed, his path to the afterlife has been unique. The cold-blooded murderer reportedly rests in an exquisite three-story mausoleum with a “heavy religious theme” in his native Culiacán.^[6]

4 Griselda Blanco

Griselda Blanco was one of the most prolific cocaine smugglers ever. But a 15-year prison sentence in the United States followed by the 2004 deportation back to her native Colombia ended her trafficking career. Once back home, Blanco enjoyed retirement. But in 2012, she was assassinated in a local butcher shop by a passing motorcyclist. Ironically, it was Blanco who first pioneered the use of motorcycle assassins during her violent career.

Two days later, she was buried in the same cemetery as rival kingpin Pablo Guzman. Thousands of schoolchildren from across the city of Itagüí were bussed in for the funeral. Adult mourners shared bottles of liquor at her grave for hours. Everyone in town was there except her son, Michael Corleone—yes, named after The Godfather character—who was under house arrest for drug crimes of his own.^[7]

3 Nazario Moreno González

The Mexican government triumphantly announced that drug lord Nazario Moreno González was killed in a shootout in 2010. But the co-head of the La Familia cartel wasn’t dead. Four years later, authorities claimed he had been killed—again. They got it right the second time. The man known as “El Mas Loco” or “The Craziest One” had actually been shot and killed that time. Police held González’s body until it was confirmed to be him through forensic analysis. At that point, they released the corpse to family members.

During life, González was god-like. The cartel boss dressed in flowing white robes. Followers hung on to his every word. Some even venerated the drug lord as if he were a saint. But in death, he disappeared. Family members refused to say where they buried the kingpin. Rumors have persisted that he was cremated. His final resting place has never been confirmed.^[8]

2 Héctor Beltrán Leyva

Héctor Beltrán Leyva took over the family business after his brother Arturo was killed in 2009 (See #6). But while Arturo lived a notorious life and was given a flashy burial, Héctor’s end was less boastful. The younger Beltrán Leyva brother, known as “El H,” ran the family cartel until his 2014 arrest. In 2018, while in jail awaiting trial, the drug lord died of a heart attack.

Family members insisted on complete privacy after his death. Héctor’s body was flown back to his hometown of Hermosillo on a private jet. Once there, it was guarded by security personnel in a private wing of the city mortuary. From there, the burial story runs cold. The cartel boss’s final resting spot has never been revealed.^[9]

1 Frank Lucas

Frank Lucas served as the inspiration for Denzel Washington’s 2007 movie American Gangster. And the real-life crime boss’s life story was worthy of the silver screen. In the 1970s, Lucas became one of America’s most successful drug lords. He controlled the heroin market on the east coast, importing massive amounts of the drug from Southeast Asia. Against all odds, Lucas later left organized crime and lived well into his 80s.

Not long before Lucas died, he ordered a custom-made casket for his own burial. The design was based on a Cadillac CTS-V, with a sliding rooftop window and all the accessories. The custom coffin cost $12,000. When the ex-drug lord passed, he was buried in a well-attended ceremony. His nephew, a pastor, presided over Lucas’s funeral. The man of God acknowledged Lucas’s actions but commended the ex-gangster for working to help others avoid crime at the end of his life.^[10]

If you asked people what the world’s most popular drug is, what would the most common answer be? Many people will say marijuana, or cannabis if they’re pretentious potheads. There will be some people that get closer by saying tobacco or alcohol. Probably fewer than say weed, because when most of us hear the word drug we think of illegal drugs. However, none of these are correct. The right answer: caffeine. We don’t think of drinking coffee as doing drugs, but that’s what it is. So read on to find out more about the only recreational drug that your parents will encourage you to take with that Starbucks gift card they send you at Christmas.

10. It Makes You Feel Good

The main reason that people take drugs is because they make the user feel good. Drugs can make us feel so good that they’re dangerous. Some people are willing to take them despite the side effects and risks. The lows and highs for coffee aren’t quite as extreme as heroin, but as you’ll see they do exist. Let’s start with the high.

Caffeine consumption stimulates the release of the chemical dopamine, which leads to euphoria. Other drugs that rely on dopamine include cocaine and ecstasy. Recent research has shown that caffeine also acts on the same neurotransmitters that marijuana does. So, that buzz you feel when you have your first cup of joe in the morning is caused by chemicals being released in your brain’s reward system. In addition to the rise in productivity, this is another one of the positive effects of caffeine consumption.

9. It Can Have Side Effects

Like most things in life, caffeine can have some nasty side effects, especially if consumed to excess. Most of us know that it can cause insomnia, nervousness, and anxiety. However, there are other negative possibilities as well. These are much more rare, but they do occur. In some people, caffeine may cause stomach problems, nausea, vomiting, headaches, chest pains, and increased heart rate.

There are also some people who should take extra caution. It can sometimes make anxiety disorders or bipolar disorder worse. It’s also probably good to avoid it if you are pregnant or if you are a child. It also can make certain problems worse, like glaucoma, epilepsy, and high blood pressure. If you have something like that that impacts your life, make sure you talk to your doctor, or more realistically, look it up online. Again, these effects are rare but it’s good to at least keep them in mind.

8. You Build Up a Tolerance

Has this ever happened to you? You do something fun you’ve never done before, and the first time you do it it’s incredibly intense and memorable. The next time you do it, it’s still really, really good, but maybe not quite as intense. But you still really like it, so you do it a lot. And after a while, it’s still kind of fun but it’s not the same. You enjoy it, but not as much. You just built up a tolerance.

That’s what happens when you consume a substance often. And this happens with caffeine as well as with other drugs. In one study, subjects became desensitized to the effects of caffeine in the first four days of consumption. This tolerance building is why you tend to need more over time in order to feel the same effects. The best way to keep your tolerance low is to keep your consumption levels low. And if you feel you’re drinking too much, you can always take a few days off. But, that might be hard because…

7. It Can Cause Withdrawal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0HaQmahq4o

When someone tries to quit taking a hard drug, let’s say heroin, there are often withdrawal symptoms. Part of the reason it’s hard to quit is because the drug makes us feel good, but another reason is because stopping feels so bad. This is the case with caffeine for many people.

Attempting to stop consuming caffeine can lead to withdrawal symptoms. Caffeine use releases adrenaline, which causes an energy boost. But this energy boost wears out eventually, and many people decide that means it’s time for more caffeine. But overconsumption can wear down your adrenal gland, making you dependent on the adrenaline boost provided by caffeine. This leads to withdrawal symptoms ranging from headache to constipation to depression. Luckily, these are usually milder than the withdrawals experienced by heroin addicts and will usually go away within a week or so. Whew!

6. You Can Overdose On It

Most things should be enjoyed in moderation, if at all. Caffeine has tons of health benefits, but too much of a good thing can turn into a bad thing. According to the Mayo Clinic, up to 400 mg of caffeine per day is safe in healthy adults. But, this amount differs based on your age, weight, and sex. Caffeine overdose usually only leads to unpleasant symptoms that go away once the caffeine is flushed out of your body. So, most of the time, it’s not that bad.

Milder symptoms include dizziness, diarrhea, and fever. But you should go to the doctor if you experience trouble breathing, vomiting, or convulsions. It’s probably best you go to the doctor after that whether you drank any caffeine or not. To avoid all this, keep your daily caffeine level below 400 mg, and even less if you aren’t used to it or are a particularly small person.

5. It Can Kill You

As we said earlier, caffeine overdose usually only leads to mildly unpleasant symptoms. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. In extremely rare cases, it can actually help kill you. Again, this can only happen if large amounts are consumed in a small amount of time. Back in April, a teen in South Carolina died after drinking a McDonald’s latte, a large Mountain Dew, and an energy drink in under 2 hours.

He suffered from a caffeine induced cardiac arrhythmia. Based on estimates, he may have consumed about 470 mg of caffeine, over the daily recommended limit, in under two hours. The energy drink is particularly to blame, as it contains tons of caffeine and sugar. The American Association of Pediatrics has warned against kids and teenagers consuming energy drinks, and they say no one can ensure they are safe. Soda’s not good for you by any means, but energy drinks seem to be even more dangerous.

4. It Can Increase The Chance For Hallucinations

Caffeine is not like LSD. We’re guessing you already knew that. It does not directly cause any kind of hallucination. But, a study has linked caffeine consumption to hallucinations. It doesn’t cause hallucinations, but they are correlated. Those who consume the equivalent of 3 cups of brewed coffee (315 mg caffeine) per day were more likely to hallucinate than those who didn’t.

Caffeine has been shown to increase stress. The researchers of the study say that stress is also related to hallucinations. It’s not common at all, but stress may increase the possibility of hallucinations for those who are prone to them. On the other hand, it may be the other way around. They say it may be that those prone to hallucinations may use caffeine as a coping mechanism. The jury’s still out on this one, as they say.

3. It’s a Social Drug

Sure, a lot of times people drink caffeinated drinks on their own. In fact, that’s probably the most common way to consume it. But there is also a unique social aspect to coffee drinking. The primary locations of these social occasions are coffee shops. In the coffee shop owner’s ideal world, people would come in, purchase something expensive, and then leave. But that is not how people act for the most part.

People treat coffee shops as meeting places. They spend hours there studying, chatting, working on business presentations, or “writing” (AKA wasting time online). They are unique places, like a bar but much more relaxed. You can talk to other people, but it’s not expected. And there are probably more people getting actual work done than at the nightclub. The fact that it helps improve productivity is one of the main reasons that caffeine is the world’s most accepted drug, and also one of the reasons that people choose to do their work at coffee shops.

2. It’s Expensive

Illegal drugs are expensive. Many small fortunes have been lost to cocaine and quaaludes… at least that’s what we got out of Wolf of Wall Street. Unfortunately, caffeine is an expensive habit as well, and a much more accessible one. Some desperate addicts spend $5 on coffee per day. In a single day! A coffee habit slowly but surely eats away at one’s savings, eroding the sense of security and ease that was their savings account.

So, why is coffee so expensive? First off, it’s a volatile business, so owners tend to raise prices because of risk. The crops and market tend to fluctuate a lot, which causes uncertainty. There are tons of threats to the world’s coffee supply, and a shortage could really hurt coffee shops. So, the lower the supply of coffee goes, the higher the price will be for the shops and the customers. It’s production also requires lots of different people and organizations. It’s estimated that each coffee bean is handled by 30 different pairs of hands before it ends up in your cup. Most businesses have middlemen, and coffee’s got a ton of them. Coffee is not necessary to life, no matter what you’ve heard people say. It’s a luxury item and is therefore highly priced.  

If you want to keep your costs down, stick with the simpler variations, like black coffee. Specialty drinks are bound to be much more expensive. And to make it even cheaper, make your own at home.

1. Governments Have Tried To Ban It Before

Most recreational drugs are banned. Coffee and alcohol are pretty much the only two openly and fully accepted in American society. Alcohol is legal for anyone over the age of 21, and caffeine is totally legal for everyone. 8-year-olds drink soda chock full of sugar and caffeine. There’s no longer any actual cocaine in Coke, but there’s still a lot of white powder that’s pretty bad for you.  

In addition to the health dangers of overconsumption, there are also psychoactive effects to caffeine. It is, after all, a drug. And, like pretty much all drugs, governments have tried to ban it before. Banning drugs is like a drug to some people. In the 17th century Ottoman Empire, the consumption of coffee was a capital offense. Sultan Murad IV was fully on board the anti-caffeine train, prescribing death for coffee drinkers. That’s right, death. And he didn’t stop there. He would dress up as a commoner and walk around Istanbul trying to catch people defying his law. He carried a freaking sword around with him and when he came upon anyone sipping a latte, he would chop off their heads. Ironically, despite his anti-drug rhetoric, the Sultan didn’t heed his own warning: his death was caused by alcohol poisoning.

The coffee hate wasn’t limited to one country. In England, The Women’s Petition Against Coffee argued that coffee was to blame for tons of problems, particularly regarding men. They even blamed coffee for causing impotence. They knew they had to fight back, for The Devil’s Cup had ruined their husbands. This sounds somewhat similar to the Women’s Temperance movement. And these sorts of ideas continue into the present day, in a more restrained way. Just last year, New Jersey was considering banning people from driving after drinking coffee. But, try as they might, coffee will rebound. Despite this resistance and it’s side effects, we fully expect caffeine to continue to be the world’s most popular drug.