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that people who use caffeine face similar difficulties. Caffeine 

 withdrawal is a real phenomenon, as is nicotine withdrawal. 

 Unlike caffeine ingestion, however, chronic nicotine ingestion 

 usually produces loss of control over use and continued use 

 despite consequences, the defining features of other drug 

 addictions such as those produced by cocaine, heroin and alcohol. 

 Moreover, from a regulatory perspective, to the degree that 

 the analogy is at all valid, it only supports the conclusion that 

 cigarettes should be regulated as drugs. 



• Caffeine is already regulated as. a drug by the FDA when 

 it is sold in tablets as a stay-awake drug or as a 

 component of a pain relieving medication. Beverages 

 that contain caffeine are already regulated as foods by 

 the FDA. Since these beverages are regulated as foods, 

 they avoid being subject to the regulations that govern 

 drugs: The part of the definition of a drug in the 

 Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act that refers to affecting the 

 structure or function of the body explicitly excludes 

 foods . Tobacco products have never be^n regulated as 

 foods, and the tobacco industry has never suggested 

 that they should be. 

 To the extent that tobacco products are to be thought of as 

 affecting the structure or function of the body in ways that are 

 similar to caffeine, they should be regulated as drugs. 



The argument that smoking cigarettes is like drinking coffee 

 or tea and that smoking cigarettes is therefore not addictive is 



