Mads Nissen's 'Sangre Blanca' Exposes Cocaine's Human Cost

Danish photographer Mads Nissen spent a decade documenting the global cocaine trade for his new photojournalism book 'Sangre Blanca,' published by Gost. The project, shot between 2016 and 2025 across ten countries, traces cocaine from Colombian coca fields to European dancefloors. Nissen collaborated with Colombian artist Juan Arreaza, whose oil paintings—made with chemicals sourced from cocaine labs—depict historical figures of the drug trade. The book highlights that despite over 50 years of the War on Drugs, cocaine consumption and production are at all-time highs. Colombia produces roughly two-thirds of the world's cocaine, according to UNODC, and suffers immense violence. In Mexico, cartels terrorize communities; in Europe, cocaine is increasingly socially acceptable and delivered within an hour via online orders. Nissen's images include coca leaf collectors like 19-year-old Ariel Albeiro Muñoz, anti-narcotics police raids by Los Comandos Jungla, and the funeral of Indigenous leader Gerson Acosta, killed in 2017. The title 'Sangre Blanca' (White Blood) reflects Nissen's assertion that cocaine is 'always soaked in blood.'