"Vin Mariani" was a kind of model for John S. Pemberton, an Atlanta surgeon and chemist, who produced his own product: "French Wine Cola." (Pemberton, according to legend, created his Wine Cola as a last-ditch effort to cure a morphine addiction.) But soon after he introduced his new product, Pemberton had bad news. In a few months his cola would be illegal. Atlanta was about to "go dry" in an early (albeit short-lived) experiment with Prohibition.

In 1886, on the cusp of Prohibition, Pemberton developed his now-famous secret Coca-Cola recipe. Sweetening his concoction with distilled fruit oils (instead of the now-prohibited wine), Pemberton advertised his product and set in motion what has become the most recognized trademark (and product) in the world.

After Atlanta’s Prohibition failed, Pemberton thought his original French Wine Cola would be more popular than his new concoction. In 1891, he sold Asa Candler the rights to his Coca-Cola formula for $2,000. Candler altered the formula slightly, although he retained the cocaine alkaloid ("Coca") and the kola nuts ("Cola"). The cocaine alkaloid, of course, has not been used in Coca-Cola since around 1905.

How did the cocaine alkaloid become such a popular product? Because of how it works in the human body. Let’s take a look at what happens.