America's Favorite Drug

It's the most widely-consumed mind-altering drug in history.

Luis Benito

Government agents knew exactly what they were looking for. As the truck carrying the contraband came around a bend early one morning and crossed the border from Georgia to Tennessee, they stopped it, guns drawn, and confiscated its entire load of contraband: Coca-Cola syrup.

But it wasn't the syrup per se they were looking for. It was caffeine—that stuff plants make to kill insect that feed on them (it acts as a natural pesticide) that humans love. Under the recently-passed Pure Food and Drug Act, caffeine was determined to be "injurious to one's health." Today those agents from the year 1909 would probably be stunned at the prevalence of Starbucks and Tim Hortons, to say nothing of all the "energy" drinks available even to children.

That is, if they weren't there enjoying a double caramel macchiato themselves.

Once Upon A Time, the government pretty much shrugged its collective shoulders about cocaine. But caffeine was considered dangerous. Times have changed. Today kids grow up on energy drinks and coffee (I've been drinking the latter since I was about ten—and I was raised in a fairly strict, conservative household) and think nothing of it. If anything, coffee has gotten a boost in recent years for being healthy, something few would have imagined 40 or 50 years ago. A Mad magazine cartoon from the 1970s showed a teary couple at a kitchen table with the caption "Remember when we used to discuss our problems over coffee and cigarettes? Now those are our problems!"

But while the Marlboro Man and Joe Camel are still exiled to an unhealthy world, caffeine is looked upon as either a minor vice or none at all, as long as one doesn't let it get out of hand.

The question is, are we? Letting it get out of hand, that is. Our caffeine consumption has gone up in the last 30 years, thanks in no small part to a green mermaid. The transformation has been quite remarkable, really. In1995, Americans drank an average of 1.7 cups per day during the winter—the biggest coffee-drinking season—compared to 1.9 cups two years prior, the National Coffee Assn. found. Most of that was basic brewed coffee, not very strong, heavy on the milk and sugar. To this day an "Americano" is a highly diluted espresso.

Starbucks and the rest of them hooked, or re-hooked, America on coffee, I think, largely through creams and sugars. Thanks to them, coffee became the adult's version of hot chocolate, with the actual coffee experience taking a backseat to the parade of artificial flavors. Sometimes I think Starbucks could skip the coffee in their frothy drinks and most people wouldn't notice.

Avnish Rathore

But that's not entirely fair. Real, hardcore coffee consumption has jumped too. Thanks to beans brought in from various regions of the world, educating provincial palates to the differences in African, South American, and Indo-Pacific roasts.

But coffee, it turns out, isn't always enough. Today we have caffeine in the form of "energy drinks," sodas, and even pills. Chocolate, energy bars, and chewing gum. And some of this is good. Research suggests it lowers the risk of diabetes, cancers, cardio-vascular disease, Parkinson's disease, dementia and depression. And it gives you an energy boost like few other (legal) substances can. It can be addictive just like nicotine, with similar withdrawal symptoms (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5), a widely used guide for mental health professionals, lists caffeine withdrawal as a diagnosable mental disorder), yet it seems to get a relatively free ride.

Caffeine is a tricky drug: It controls some people, while others can shrug off its effects, at least in lower doses. My mother could drink a cup of coffee in the middle of the afternoon and not sleep that night; I catch a good eight hours after a late night espresso shot. Caffeine does not make me jittery, and if it gives me an energy boost or improves my focus I'll be darned if I can feel it. I love coffee but it's for the taste, and I'll happpily drink decaf if I can find one that doesn't taste flat. (Hard to find, but I have a few favorites.) I've been told by healthcare professionals I am not typical.

For most people, caffeine has a much greater impact. Some historians have even theorized the Age of Enlightenment would not have started without coffee. I'm not certain if they believe this because coffeehouses became the places where intellectuals gathered or because caffeine stimulated their brains, but whichever it is I find it dubious at best. The golden ages of Greece and Rome, to name just two examples, happened without any stimulating substances we know of, and while there was plenty of tobacco use during the Age of Enlightenment, it was in the form of pipe smoking, which does not give one the same nicotine "hit" that cigarette smoking does. At the same time, it's interesting to note that the decline of cigarette smoking in recent decades almost perfectly matches the rise in caffeine consumption. On average, 35 percent of Americans say they drink three to four cups of coffee a day, and 56 percent regularly drink soda and 45 percent regularly drink iced tea on top of that. Are we just substituting one stimulant for another?

At the moment doctors are saying about four cups of coffee a day is okay. Espresso, contrary to popular myth, actually contains less caffeine, but it delivers its effect faster because of its concentration. And of course we're getting caffeine in all sorts of other ways we often don't think about: colas and chocolate and even tea, everyone's favorite healthy beverage. Tests have supposedly found people favor caffeinated items over those without caffeine added even when they can't taste the caffeine. The brain, it appears, is wired to prefer caffeine.

Is our new addiction as bad as, say, cigarette smoking?

A lot has changed since 1909. Caffeine is virtually unregulated. And so it is consumed as much as tobacco was 100 years ago. But it hasn't been found to have tobacco's deleterious effects. Still, would my life be better without it? I have never noticed any of the classic effects of too much caffeine consumption, but I realize those effects could be creeping up on me gradually, eluding my conscious notice.

So, much as I love coffee, I have decided to stop drinking it for at least a month, to see what happens. Since I don't drink colas or energy drinks or cocoa, I don't have to quit them. Nearly all my caffeine comes from coffee—I drink around 3 to 4 cups or espresso shots per day, sometimes more, sometimes less. In a month's time I will report back on my coffee-free life experiences. I look forward to seeing what happens.