586 



Manufacturers of coffee makers have even developed machines 

 which have coffee prepared by exact times to ensure that the 

 coffee "addiction" can be satisfied immediately upon awakening. 



It should be pointed out that Dr. Kessler's "definition" of addiction would classify 



most coffee, cola, and tea drinkers as caffeine addicts. Caffeine is psychoactive and the 



effects last longer than those of nicotine.^ Many people experience a "strong urge" for a 



cup of coffee each morning. There is a well-established physical withdrawal syndrome for 



2-3 cups a day coffee drinkers who suddenly stop drinking coffee. Is caffeine similar to 



cocaine and heroin because of this? Neil Benowitz, one of the editors of the 1988 Surgeon 



General's Report, admitted that caffeine meets their new definition of addiction: 



Many physicians have treated patients who continue to drink 

 large quantities of raffeinated beverages in the face of 

 information that caffeine is harmful to their health and advice 

 to quit. Such behavior suggests that these people are addicted 

 to caffeine. Addiction liability can be analyzed according to 

 criteria recently presented by the United States Surgeon 

 General. The three major criteria for addiction liability are 

 psychoactivity, drug-reinforced behavior, and compulsive use. 

 That caffeine is psychoactive and that some people consume 

 caffeine compulsively is clear. That caffeine reinforces its 

 consumption has recently been demonstrated in people, 

 although reinforcement is highly dependent on the dose, with 

 excess doses producing dysphoria. Minor criteria for addiction 

 liability include the development of tolerance, physical 

 dependence, and recurrent intense desire for the drug, all of 

 which are characteristic of regular caffeine consumers. Thus, 

 there is a group of coffee drinkers who appear to be addicted 



26 



See Jaffe, J. and Kantzer, M., "Nicotine: Tobacco Use, Abuse and Dependence, 

 Subst. Abuse . 0(0): 256, 1981. See .also Sawyer £t al., "Caffeine and Human 

 Behavior: Arousal, Anxiety and Performance Effects. J. of Behav. Med. . 5(4): 415, 

 1982. "Caffeine is, without question, the most commonly used psychoactive drug in 

 the World." Jaffe, J.H., Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry . Chapter 13, 

 Psychoactive Substance Use Disorders, 1(0), page 683, 1989. 



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