To get a good kick from caffeine, most people need only drink a 6-ounce cup of coffee, about 100 milligrams. But on a popular pro-drug Web site, a visitor reported taking seven No Doz tablets, or 1,400 milligrams of caffeine, and compared the effects to a bad trip on LSD.
Then, like many who get carried away with the world's most popular drug, the person wondered: "Can caffeine really do this?"
It can. And abuse of the legal stimulant is an emerging problem among young people, according to Northwestern University researchers, who recently analyzed three years' worth of cases reported to the Illinois Poison Center.
Symptoms include everything from nausea, vomiting and a racing heart to hallucinations, panic attacks, chest pains and trips to the emergency room.
In the study that was presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians, the researchers found more than 250 cases of medical complications from ingesting caffeine supplements. Twelve percent of those cases required hospitalization, including in the intensive-care unit. The average age of the caffeine abusers was 21.
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"Part of the problem is that people do not think of caffeine as a drug but rather as a food product," said study author Danielle McCarthy.
The move to purge the market of caffeine supplements surely will be the next step. If you don't think there's a problem out there, consider this statement:
The problem, said Michael Wahl, managing medical director for the Illinois Poison Center, is not necessarily in the caffeine but in the dose.
"Everything is a poison, including water, if you have too much," he said. "Caffeine is a stimulant that releases your internal catecholamines [compounds that can serve as hormones] that make you anxious, jittery and create the fight-or-flight response. When the heart beats too fast, bad things happen. It's an emerging trend to keep an eye on and see if it's getting worse."
The problem (as with Ehpedra) lies not with the educated population who are using supplements safely and effectively, but with a small group of abusers who are threatening to ruin the availability of caffeine for everyone. The Government, in its wisdom, seems to think that the best way to cure the patient of cancer is to chop off its head, instead of trying to attack the turmor.
As with any segment of society, the tumor ruins it for the rest of the body and can ultimately lead to the regulation and control of caffeine from the general populace. Right now such a move would cause a severe backlash as caffeine laced coffees and teas have become the liquid du jour for the "hip" set, and there is big money in caffeinated drink sales to be had by some BIG money industries.
And if you don't think an outright elimination of caffeine is the ultimate goal, here's your smoking gun:
"There is a trend in the pro-drug culture toward promoting legal alternatives to illegal drugs, and it can be very harmful," McCarthy said.
We're rapidly nearing the point in America where only food and drink from "approved" Government vendors (large multinational Oligopolies)who process the nutrients out of sub-standard gruel and add artificial flavors and textures designed to taste almost exactly, entirely unlike food and drink.
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