The Candy Machine: How Cocaine Took Over the World

In The Candy Machine Tom Feiling travels the trade routes from Colombia via Miami, Kingston and Tijuana to London and New York. He meets Medellín hitmen, US kingpins, Brazilian traffickers and talks to soldiers and narcotics officers who fight the gangs and cartels. He traces cocaine’s progress from legal ‘pick-me-up’ to luxury product to global commodity, looks at legalisation programmes in countries like Switzerland, and shows how America’s anti-drugs crusade is actually increasing demand.

Cutting through the myths about the white market, this is the story of cocaine as it’s never been told before.

‘A vivid, argumentative, arresting book based on extensive interviews with people involved in the cocaine routes which run from Colombia to American and British cities.’ —The Telegraph