Caffeine Machine

Me and my Pepi... we go way, way back. I don't remember the days when I wasn't sipping that sweet, sugary goodness, hoping to stay awake for another class. So when I heard the words "the government might regulate caffeine" in my Drugs in Our Society class, I had to dig deeper. I needed to know: would I be regulated as to how much how soda I'm allowed to drink in a day before "intoxication"? Are they going to tax soda even higher then they already do? Since I'm not a coffee drinker and energy drinks mess my already excitable system up, I'm incredibly curious to know what they will do to soda.

According to an article by the Wall Street Journal (linked and posted here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203674704574328322293679870.html), the main regulation that people are encouraging for is the mixing of caffeine and alcohol.

"Proponents of tougher regulation are calling for everything from outright bans to warning labels stating that mixing caffeine and alcohol could carry health or safety risks. A primary concern of the groups is that caffeine and other stimulants may mask feelings of drunkenness, which could lead users to act recklessly, such as driving while intoxicated."

Of course, me being the brilliant person that I am, I had no idea what-so-ever that they put caffeine in alcoholic drinks and the other way around. It makes sense, though; people love to play with things they shouldn't play with. I totally agree with this regulation, especially because it is mentioned later on in the article that the risk of accidents people get into due to alcohol rises with the addiction of caffeine. It freaks me out how people take so many risks on alcohol. Did you know that the more you black out, the more often you can black out? It's a pretty scary fact.

However, alcohol aside, I'll turn to another article (http://www.cypnow.co.uk/inDepth/ByDiscipline/Education/936907/Health---dangers-caffeine/) by the NCB (National Child's Bureau) about just caffeine in specifics. It appears, from the looks of this article, that they are thinking of just putting regulations on energy drinks. (Whew!) This is because of all of the young people now (in high school, especially) who are consuming a ridiculous amount of energy drinks. I supposed I don't have to tell you this, though. You probably have either tried, currently use, or know someone who uses energy drinks for that extra kick or to "party like a rockstar."

"Phillips believes some young people are using the drinks as "a legal way to get high". He says some teenagers see the drinks as a cool status symbol, because their packaging resembles beer or cider cans."

Well... no. I went to a high school where energy drinks were cool but I think it's a bit of a stretch to suggest that they're like beer cans. Now, if the kids were "cool", they could convince one of their older friends to buy them one of the alcoholic caffeine drinks and really find a way to get high. These are drinks that keep you awake in class; why wouldn't high school-age kids drink these drinks? Many of them, such as Amp (in my opinion), taste like soda (Amp tastes like Mountain Dew), so that's a plus.

Although, some do taste really nasty, and I can't imagine how people can choke them down. Monster for example. I just shudder to think about it.

"He has witnessed young people suffer from twitching, paranoia and aggressiveness as a result of caffeine drink consumption.

"'They cannot stop their actions because they are suffering withdrawal symptoms when trying to limit their intake, so we have been treating it as an addiction,' he says."

Ok, this really made me think of a website (http://www.energyfiend.com/death-by-caffeine) that I stumbled across one day that I need to share with everyone. This will involve hours of fun. No joke. You write down your weight, "pick your poison", and find out how fast how many caffeine drinks of the brand could kill you. I'm a lightweight so, for example, after talking about Amp, it would take 104.65 cans of Amp to kill me. On the other hand, it would only take 47.57 Pitt Bull Caffeine bars to kill me. Scary, huh?

Seriously, though, I realize that this subject is actually quite a big deal. If you didn't know, caffeine is a legal drug and should be used with extreme caution. It is highly addicted and I know people who are strongly addicted to it. I've had teachers who come to a 9am class with a half-consumed can of Cola in their hands. I've even struggled with it, especially when I have to wake up after only 6 hours of restless sleep and attend an early class. It's very tempting to down just a can at 10am, then another around 3pm, and maybe finish off with one around 8pm to keep me awake to study. I don't do that (because I would go into water withdrawals if I drank 3 cans of soda a day) but I'm saying that it's the thought that's there.

If you've never heard of the story, there was an energy drink called Spike Shooter that came out a couple of years ago that had very scary amount of caffeine in it. On the can, if you even bothered to read it, it says that kids under 16 shouldn't drink it and, when consumed, the person should only drink half of the drink at one time. This drink ended up hospitalizing several teens because drinking an entire can gave them heart palpitations. I looked it up on the Death by Caffeine site and this one could kill me in 26.16 cans. That is VERY scary.

So, watch what you drink.

But, those of you who drink soda, you have no worries about being regulated. Or even dying. Because, if it really would take me 206.55 cans of Pepsi to kill me, I'm going to keep guzzling like nobody's business, baby.