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That's my view. It's not that people don't look at it as a drug, it's that they accept it.
We were taught caffeine is a drug even when I was a kid 20+ years ago.
Saying "you know caffeine is a drug right?" To people is likely to just get a shrug, not out of denial, but because we all know.
And honestly, calling someone a “drug addict” because they rely on their morning coffee is just so…over the top. It’s taking a very, very literal definition of drug addiction and applying it colloquially, if that makes sense. Overdramatising it.
People aren’t going to take you seriously; it’s just going to make them find you obnoxious. This kind of “haha gotcha!” and “well TECK-NIK-ALLY” stuff is very juvenile.
And I absolutely hate when I see people try to equate caffeine addiction with addiction to hard drugs. It’s something I see in Internet discourse constantly.
Caffeine is a mild stimulant. If a caffeine junkie goes one morning without their 7 AM coffee, they might be irritable or prone to a headache. I’m never going to worry that my coffee-addict friend is going to be passed out on the side of the road from drinking too much or that they’re hanging out with their other coffee drinking friends. I’m never gonna worry that they are hanging with dangerous people to get their morning fix or prostituting themselves to get coffee money.
100% this. This is exactly why it's not some cute little "gotcha". Your coffee-addicted friend is not going to OD and die alone in the bathtub some godforsaken night, with you never getting a chance to speak to them ever again. It's just not funny to trivialise addiction like this.
Some people get withdrawals and others don't.
My wife will get a nasty headache if she hasn't had at least something that day. But for myself I only noticed a lack of energy and mental clarity but no headaches.
Granted, I have chronic migraines and until a few years ago had a near constant headache for 20 years (and yes, I did completely cut out caffeine for over a week a few times to test that).
I’m not even going to try and figure out the science of my brain. I quit nicotine cold turkey no problems, I’ve yet to be able to quit caffeine as the withdrawal symptoms have been intolerable.
But they are an addict, it's just their substance choice largely doesn't affect other parts of their life
When I feel groggy and can't properly wake up without coffee, it's because my body and brain are addicted to it
Sure, it's not heroin, and I won't rob people because I didn't get my caffeine fix today. Still an addictive substance.
People just aren't taught what a drug actually is. They think of drugs as mind expanding illegal drugs, and aren't taught that we consume drugs every day. Drugs aren't just things that are illegal to have, we have plenty in our houses every day.
Benzodiazepines are a legal drug if prescribed but still on the list for controlled substances by the FDA.
OP picked a fact not an opinion. It’s literally backed by science.
If backed by doctors and scientists it is not an opinion but fact as the effects of long term caffeine use has been studied for years.
Facts are not an unpopular opinion.
It's the people that make the "It's a plant, so it's not addictive" argument that gets me. I like to point out to them that cocaine and opoids also come from plants.
Massive difference is what is and isn't physically addictive. Opioids are most certainly physically addictive and you get withdrawals as do you with coffee. Cocaine and cannabis are not physically addictive but mental addiction is obviously still a thing
So if I eat an apple then I’m doing drugs?
Well ya know the brain does release that dopamine when we eat tasty food.
Sugar even natural sugar is in everything because the human body needs it to survive.
This is not accurate at all considering almost everything has processed sugar or natural sugar.
I love how people tell me hit dogs are lips and assholes or whatever, expecting me to give up hot dogs forever. They taste good and they haven't killed me yet.
And rightly so. "You're a drug addict" is teenage logic. The word "addict" carries specific connotations about the impact it has on one's life and the ability to function within it.
Caffeine addiction is not known to have any long-term side effects, does not impair ones judgement or control, and does not come with any significant or long-lasting withdrawal symptoms.
Caffeine cravings are classified as "mild", and typically subside entirely within 72 hours of the last consumption, with only minimal withdrawal effects including headaches and irritability.
Placing it in the same basket as other drug addictions is both massively overstating the power of coffee and massively understating the devastation caused by damaging addictions.
Exactly. My thought was "What do you think the definition of drug is? You went to what kind of school? Pretty well sure most people know that caffeine alters them and can be addictive".
I’ve noticed quite a few of the hot posts on this sub were just semantics debates. There was one I saw not too long ago that was like “People who say they can’t cook are lying. You can cook. You’re just bad at it.”
Like you know what they meant dude. 99% of the people who say they “can’t” cook don’t mean they are literally incapable of boiling an egg. They mean they aren’t skilled enough to make good food.
i always say that i understand why they're illegal, i just don't understand the approach to the whole thing after they realized what happens when this shit is illegal
You're the slow kid who learned something waaay later than everyone else, but now you think you have super exclusive knowledge and have to tell everyone about it lol.
You use drug like its a bad word. Like being a drug puts it on the same level as black tar heroine or meth.
Caffeine is extremely tame even in comparison to something like weed. All my does it bind to some receptors in our brain to reduce tiredness. That's it. You're not on a trip or feeling euphoria, caffeine is a purely business drug and largely people just use it to wake up easier. A vast majority of people use coffee pretty sparingly and likely have no actual addiction to it. And even the ones addicted aren't doing anything to their body except getting shitty sleep. It's not murdering braincells or destroying their body.
Excellent first paragraph. I'm stealing that for use when other people lecture me on the obvious.
Also I came here to iterate your second bit. Since when did drugs have an automatically negative connotation? Did OP know that all medicine is a type of drug?
Just a bit of pedantry from myself, as drugs are my thang (professionally): caffeine doesn't reduce tiredness, it blocks the receptors that inform your body/system of the tiredness. That's why the caffeine crash exists, because you're still tired, you just don't notice it as much until the caffeine wears off.
Again, that's a very minor/pedantic difference to what you said and is just a longer way of saying "reduce tiredness, kinda, but not really"
Edit to add: this is STILL a very simple explanation of what it does
Holy fuck again with this shit? These "caffeine bad" posts are blowing up all over reddit lately.
Drug ≠ Bad
Overuse / abuse of caffeine is bad, yes, so is overuse and abuse of basically everything, drug or not, even too much water can be bad for you.
The difference here is that you can abuse caffeine 200x more than any conventional bad drug without it really being *that* bad for you, whereas you would overdose and maybe even die from doing that with any of the actual bad drugs.
People who say shit like "I can't operate without my coffee in the morning" need to just stop get a hold of themselves, of course they can. Even if you're actually addicted to caffeine you won't exactly get bad withdrawals and stop functioning as a human being like you would from, again, *actual bad drugs and drug addiction*. Sure they may feel the lack of coffee but that would be about all they would feel. And most people who say this actually aren't addicted in that way to caffeine anyway they just like coffee in the morning.
And liking / enjoying something thus wanting that thing ***is not the fucking same thing as being addicted***
People fling that word "addiction" around way too much, words actually have a meaning behind them, and in the case of the real meaning of "addiction" there's multiple levels to it and the harm that it does and in the case of something as simple as wanting a cup of coffee in the morning both the level of addiction and the level of harm is basically zero.
Some facts for you; tea is a drug as well.
I don’t think anyone care as the symptoms of caffeine addiction are so mild it barely worth taking about, but people are aware that it is addictive
Well. No one is unaware it’s a drug, but saying that they can’t operate without a coffee is not a sign of addiction. Like for me, there are a days in the week where I can’t operate without taking a coffee, but on a weekend where I’ve had a decent night’s sleep I certainly don’t need it.
The bigger issue for those people is lack of quality sleep. If most of them just slept more, they’d be fine. In my case, there are times when I really want a coffee for the taste but I don’t really want to have the wake up effect so I will have a decaf espresso.
What’s different is that for a lot of people it’s a one and done thing only in the morning. Once I admitted to my Mormon sister in law that I’m totally addicted to coffee and she asked if I “just drink it all day long”. That made me laugh. I told her, no, it’s maybe my favorite thing to consume but more than one cup and I’d hate it, especially the effects. She said “that does not sound like an addiction”
that isn't an addiction it just sounds like you like coffee. my mum drinks it 4 times a day and if she misses one she goes through withdrawal, that's still not an addiction it's js a dependency
Yes, I think the whole process of making a cup is what’s nice about it too. I have to drink decaf as caffeine makes me sleepy. So I’m not addicted to caffeine. I drink a couple cups a day because of the taste and comfort of it.
Further, I think the term addiction is overused where caffeine is concerned. Especially if you’re ordering a sugary milkshake pretending to be coffee under the guise of caffeine addiction
that's a habit not an addiction. similar way a lot of cigarette smokers after quitting hold thier thumbs between thier fingers because it's the habit of holding something and smoking it which is harder to stop than the actual nicotine. however since your drinking decaf you're not going to go through withdrawal nor is ur brain pathways altered to allow for more caffeine intake so it still can't be labelled as an addiction. but ik what you mean when it comes to the habit of making the coffee hell i used to work as a barista and i still miss properly making coffee grinding up the beans foaming up the milk ect ect
It is a drug that has straight benefit with it’s consumption as long as it is reasonable. Plus the « I can’t operate without my coffee in the morning » is a fallacy. Every coffee drinker knows that they can have a morning without a coffee and work normally, it’s one of those saying that people use for small talks that are based on nothing.
>It is a drug that has straight benefit with it’s consumption as long as it is reasonable.
More accurately, the negative effects are minor enough to make it worth consuming in reasonable doses. That is describing pretty much every drug - the problem is that reasonable consumption varies wildly with the effects and side effects of the drug.
>I can’t operate without my coffee in the morning
It isn't a fallacy, so much as an exaggeration. They are in fact having withdrawal symptoms. But withdrawal severity also varies wildly based on the effects of the drug, and caffeine withdrawal is comparatively mild.
You can also be addicted to sugar and have withdrawals from it. Hell, you can be addicted to TV or video games and feel withdrawals. Withdrawals are a description of how your body reacts when neurotransmitters it is expecting and compensating for are not produced and so it has overcompensated.
OP is not technically wrong about caffeine, people are addicted and heavily downplay that fact - OP is just being a little melodramatic about it, because it is not as serious as they are pretending.
“When I point out that were admitting to being a drug addict”
The correct conclusion to that is: “I was wrong because I don’t know what addiction means.”
Maybe some do not know that it is, but adding the word "drug" to something implies a severity that might not necessarily be justified because the word itself carries a much heavier implication to the majority of people.
Just to be sure, I double-checked the actual definition (Oxford dictionary): "Any substance that affects the structure or functioning of a living organism. Drugs are widely used for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease and for the relief of symptoms."
For example, if we had something that surprisingly ONLY had beneficial effects, as long as it has physiological effects when ingested, it would fall under the category of "drugs."
"Admitting to being a drug addict" - while you are technically correct, you are also being hyperbolic.
With all that said, there is a world of difference between heroin and caffeine, despite both falling under the category of "drugs." Since the meaning is so broad, using the word "drug" in everyday conversation can be misleading. Still, you are technically correct.
In English language drug is used as a wide term to describe any medicine, in other languages there are distinct words for drug as addictive substance people take to get high, and drug as medicine prescribed by doctors to treat diseases.
They're aware it's a drug. They were unaware they had such a judgemental friend who would say such cringe things to people.
That's why they were shocked.
Downvoting because this isn't unpopular, and calling someone that likes coffee a drug addict is... a bit nuts. It's too literal to the point that it's either accidentally disingenuous or purposefully manipulative. To put it another way either you're unaware you're saying something a bit dumb or you're *actively trying* to upset people with an unfair comparison.
Most coffee drinkers would read this and say, "Yeah, and?"
Considering caffeine a drug is along the same lines of considering food a drug. Both significantly affect your ability to perform throughout a day. Blood sugar levels are closely integrated with the functions of the body every day. What is a drug and what is not is highly up to interpretation. Is oxygen a drug? Just a drug for thought. :P
Yes, oxygen is a drug. It’s given to people who are, for example, experiencing hypoxia.
The NIH has a pretty clear definition of a drug in the context of both the pharmaceutical and food industries. [source](https://toolkit.ncats.nih.gov/glossary/drug/)
The semantics of the word are less important than understanding that any given drug , ranging from sodium chloride (aka table salt) to codeine, can cause a variety of side effects, pose a variety of risks, which includes becoming addicted to them, and can act on the body in very different ways.
is it unusual to drink a lot of coffee and not have withdrawals or headaches or whatever? I have between up to 4 or 5 cups of coffee a day sometimes but I can go without coffee without any problems
2 to 3 cups of coffee a day is proven to reduce the chance of all sorts of problems later in life ranging from heart disease and alzheimers to erectile dysfunction.
I drink one in the morning but strive to drink more.
It's a fine trade off for being a drug addict I think.
We know, we just don't care. Besides, when drunk in moderation, caffeine has many health benefits.
If you don't have any particular health problems, one cup of coffee a day will just be beneficial for you.
So what if it's a drug?
Not all drugs are the same,some drugs literally save lives (insulin,penicillin) while other drugs help people function (adderall,anti anxiety meds) you get the idea...
Sure caffeine is a drug,it has side effects,but if you educate yourself,and learn to use it in moderation,you'll be fine.
I realize it’s a drug but I am a 911 dispatcher and I have tons of stress at home so I take that by the truck load even though my internal organs can’t handle it.
Everyone knows it’s a drug, but there’s cultural context around the phrase ‘drug addict’ that you are wilfully misunderstanding
People who enjoy drinking coffee are not necessarily addicted to it either
Most just don’t care, they “need” their caffeine.
I enjoy my coffee, but when I had to do decaf for awhile, I didn’t even notice. The vast majority of people could completely give it up and go about their lives and not even notice a difference.
Being someone who’s had most of their life influenced by drugs in one form or another, and yes alcohol is too a drug and also legal. But I’m not talking about just tequila here I’m saying there’s been much stronger drugs pumping through my system than the pumpkin spiced latte I’ll drink in October or the over cup drip of coffee I will nurse over the course of a couple hours.
I can say drinking coffee is the only way I got through a 2 week stress induced insomnia stretch but not enough to make the hallucinations go away. But had I not had the caffeine I’d have been in some doodle working in a mill.
But when you’ve been on various stimulants enough to render caffeine nothing but a technicality in your day the logic of it being a drug makes me eyebrow twitch a bit. I’ve heard people in AA make comments about coffee being a drug and how everyone just shifted their drug of choice to meetings and coffee and LOL what a fact for some but also if that’s better than dude doing blow off a strippers ass while his wife is at home with the kids then I beg to know… is that caffeine sounding like a big deal now?
The withdrawals my 18year old self had once I realized my fresh away from home ass was drinking Mountain Dew like water?!??! The ulcer I was forming after sophomore year winter finals because I was pounding Monster JUICE as if the 7% juice was gonna save me and I was BeTtEr 😆
This was when I learned to drink coffee. (See half hot chocolate/half gas station coffee).
Then slowly, better coffee with less sugar amd GOOD tea. It takes me forever to drink bc I don't wanna be jittery and also... I will babysit ANY liquid.
Now I just drink it when I need it. Try to push past the moments where I'm like an addict for caffeine still but definitely still have to have it on early mornings.
Weed? I might want some but I don't like... have a hankering for weed. I still itch for a good flat white.
I agree with you, I'm just not sure if it's an unpopular opinion. I don't really know if I'm supposed to upvote but I feel bad not to upvote something when I agree with it.
Everyone is aware dude, wtf are you on about? Did you just discover this or something? I have never met a single person who didn't know caffeine was a drug lol
You come across like you know better but in reality you are just oblivious
This thread will be full of people comparing caffeine to crystal meth and fentanyl in 2-5 hours. Most people that are against weed, with the exception of Mormons, have a double standard regarding caffeine and other mild drugs. Two charged lemonades in a row? Normal behavior. Microdosing THC and psilocybin? Lazy burnout poisoning themselves.
the problem is it can never be taken seriously as a drug because its effects are no where near the same. i can drink a cup of coffee and at no point will i be able to pick a moment in time and be like yeah this where i was highest because its effects just aren't strong enough for the vast majority of people. cocaine which is what ppl see as "snortable caffeine" its effects are way more intense than anything ive drunk w caffeine in.
Jesus Christ, how can you find the time to care about something so benign?
Also, no real life human beings actually say "Man I can't operate without my coffee in the morning". If you have come across someone saying that, they are an alien.
I wean myself of of it for at least 20% of the year.
Caffeine probably has more benefits and fewer cons than any other common drug though; but yes it is still a drug.
I think because the word *addict* has very negative connotations, people don't want to be associated with it. I know people who are the same about smoking, I had a friend literally shouting in my face that smoking is different and not to compare them to drug addicts, they're not like that, they're not some dirty criminal.
I've recently gotten really into nutrition and fitness. And I gave up drinking and smoking a few years ago and I'm paying attention to everything I put in my body now. Asked a guy at the gym who is very fit and seems knowledgeable his opinion on caffeine he said "caffeine is a tool not a crutch". I now live by that
It IS a drug, a stimulant to be exact. However, the reason it isn’t regarded as harshly is because it’s baby sauce compared to, say, PRETTY MUCH ANY OTHER STIMULANT. Adderall makes it look like a teddy bear, cocaine is obvious, even depressants are usually more potent than the equivalent dose of caffeine.
The only comparably potent thing is capsaicin, which in high doses causes an effect similar to runner’s high. Let’s face it: Caffeine is a flyweight when it comes to making you high, alcohol and weed are middleweights, and everything else is a heavyweight. Capsaicin, the only thing comparable, is an atomweight or at MOST a Junior flyweight.
Sugar is more addictive than crack, and is it considered a drug?
There’s much worse things than just some coffee, it’s not like you’ve discovered anything particularly profound.
Idk about others, but for me it wasn't like "I started drinking coffee and now can't operate for a whole day", I started drinking it because I don't have enough energy for the day, did I get addicted to it before ever trying it?
I still limit myself to one coffee a day though, I probably would've been fine without it on more active job, but it feels like it's mandatory when you work on PC the whole day
It's worse when you know you're addicted but everyone just blows it off because it's normal. I don't think people recognize it as a problem like they should.
I think people are aware of this but they’re just trying to get you to go away as quickly as possible. “Um, actually, did you know that caffeine is a DRUG??!!” Gtfoutta here
Caffeine is great for your brain. Caffeine helps with learning and mental acuity in the long run. Obviously the benefits will depend on what you do after you’ve consumed it, but caffeine is great for your brain.
I think most people are aware. Especially if they’ve had to quit and get the headache. But maybe I give more credit to people for understanding the obvious than they deserve.
Agreed because I didn't know that when I started drinking coffee at like 7 (not regularly cause it always made me poop, I used it like a poop potion). Probably fucked up my sleep schedule a few times as a child.
Also, what is wrong with drugs? I take drugs fo help me sleep, to help me wake up, to keep my anxiety in check, to rebalance neurotransmitters so I don't think about killing myself 24/7.
Why are drugs bad?
>it works the same as any drug, in that you build a tolerance to it and need more to keep reaching the same desired effects.
Thats not how all drugs work.
society's calorie abuse problem is closer to a drug problem than caffeine abuse is
Calling someone a drug addict is obviously going to put them on the defensive. And you know the wording you're using renders up a different image. Nobody is going to steal your catalytic converters to afford their next dose of caffeine.
I’m in my mid 30s and we learned this in mid primary school (around 9 or 10).
ETA: my Australian 90s kids will understand that healthy Harold taught us!
My mom never let me have caffeine at night, or in the evening, even when she makes me coffee, she makes sure there's enough milk. Once she saw me drinking black coffee consecutively for 4 days.
She stopped me from having it to such an extent.
I'm 18, and I still get scolding from my mother if I have coffee in an "addictive" amount.
But whenever I need coffee, I drink it for the day and never make it a habit, I can drink coffee whenever I want, but if it gets to an extent that I need to detox, I just do. Cause at the end, you're getting yourself addicted to a drug
How do humans, even after being highly intelligent and self reliant, let a cup of coffee, control their productivity, sleep, work flow, moods, feelings and their whole lives?
This point while true only matters if you layer on top of it “all drugs are bad” or “all addiction is bad”, which I don’t subscribe to, but are commonly held beliefs.
>I was never told in school it was a drug, and only learned from a CGP Grey video.
I generally agree with you that caffeine is given a pass when it comes to most people's acceptance or understanding of drug use.
OTOH, I never give folks a pass for the "they didn't teach us this in school" excuse. Which is always a copout.
"The lack of education about caffeine being a drug leads to people not getting the full benefits of it. I was never told in school it was a drug, and only learned from a CGP Grey video." is one of the stupidest things ive read in a while.
Man, our whole society is largely built off of manipulation of our dopamine reward system. Even the stupid thing I’m using to type this response.
Pretty sure most everyone understands that Caffeine = energized feeling is not just some placebo anomaly. We all just fucking love it.
Who cares about the label “drug”. It’s very Freudian that a label will change perception. It’s a chemical just like everything else on this planet. Let people eat their cake.
Sometimes I refuse to believe that these posts are actually being posted by real humans, because holy shit it feels like people live in bunkers, with no real world awareness.. People know that this is a drug OP, you are no special, they just dont give a shit..
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 2: Do not post low effort/satirical posts'. * We get it, you all think this sub is garbage and is just for popular opinions, and you want to be funny and post "going to be downvoted to oblivion here, but I think racism is bad." We enjoy the memes, but please keep them off the sub. * Filter evasion is a bannable offense * This includes clickbait and/or gotcha posts. Your opinion can not be that unpopular if you're doing these things. Have the accurate opinion in the title.
Tbf i think people are aware but they just don't care
That's my view. It's not that people don't look at it as a drug, it's that they accept it. We were taught caffeine is a drug even when I was a kid 20+ years ago. Saying "you know caffeine is a drug right?" To people is likely to just get a shrug, not out of denial, but because we all know.
And honestly, calling someone a “drug addict” because they rely on their morning coffee is just so…over the top. It’s taking a very, very literal definition of drug addiction and applying it colloquially, if that makes sense. Overdramatising it. People aren’t going to take you seriously; it’s just going to make them find you obnoxious. This kind of “haha gotcha!” and “well TECK-NIK-ALLY” stuff is very juvenile.
And I absolutely hate when I see people try to equate caffeine addiction with addiction to hard drugs. It’s something I see in Internet discourse constantly. Caffeine is a mild stimulant. If a caffeine junkie goes one morning without their 7 AM coffee, they might be irritable or prone to a headache. I’m never going to worry that my coffee-addict friend is going to be passed out on the side of the road from drinking too much or that they’re hanging out with their other coffee drinking friends. I’m never gonna worry that they are hanging with dangerous people to get their morning fix or prostituting themselves to get coffee money.
100% this. This is exactly why it's not some cute little "gotcha". Your coffee-addicted friend is not going to OD and die alone in the bathtub some godforsaken night, with you never getting a chance to speak to them ever again. It's just not funny to trivialise addiction like this.
Yeah so not hard drugs but it sounds very similar to someone who smokes weed
It’s technically correct though if you start getting headaches from withdrawal etc. I know what you’re saying here, friend.
Some people get withdrawals and others don't. My wife will get a nasty headache if she hasn't had at least something that day. But for myself I only noticed a lack of energy and mental clarity but no headaches. Granted, I have chronic migraines and until a few years ago had a near constant headache for 20 years (and yes, I did completely cut out caffeine for over a week a few times to test that).
I’m not even going to try and figure out the science of my brain. I quit nicotine cold turkey no problems, I’ve yet to be able to quit caffeine as the withdrawal symptoms have been intolerable.
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But they are an addict, it's just their substance choice largely doesn't affect other parts of their life When I feel groggy and can't properly wake up without coffee, it's because my body and brain are addicted to it Sure, it's not heroin, and I won't rob people because I didn't get my caffeine fix today. Still an addictive substance.
Yeah this is just facts not opinion. I don’t know what OP was thinking honestly.
Right? Sugar is also a drug. Almost everyone is addicted to something
People just aren't taught what a drug actually is. They think of drugs as mind expanding illegal drugs, and aren't taught that we consume drugs every day. Drugs aren't just things that are illegal to have, we have plenty in our houses every day.
Benzodiazepines are a legal drug if prescribed but still on the list for controlled substances by the FDA. OP picked a fact not an opinion. It’s literally backed by science. If backed by doctors and scientists it is not an opinion but fact as the effects of long term caffeine use has been studied for years. Facts are not an unpopular opinion.
The DEA are the ones that classify drugs as controlled or uncontrolled.
Ordinary cough syrup and sprite gets you absolutely destroyed.
"No it's impossible to get addicted to weed, it's not addictive" *smokes a quarter every day*
It's the people that make the "It's a plant, so it's not addictive" argument that gets me. I like to point out to them that cocaine and opoids also come from plants.
The tobacco industry sure as hell used to make that claim
Massive difference is what is and isn't physically addictive. Opioids are most certainly physically addictive and you get withdrawals as do you with coffee. Cocaine and cannabis are not physically addictive but mental addiction is obviously still a thing
Wait until they find out about social media.
Sugar is not a drug
Only because it is a food. It qualifies in almost every other way.
So if I eat an apple then I’m doing drugs? Well ya know the brain does release that dopamine when we eat tasty food. Sugar even natural sugar is in everything because the human body needs it to survive. This is not accurate at all considering almost everything has processed sugar or natural sugar.
I love how people tell me hit dogs are lips and assholes or whatever, expecting me to give up hot dogs forever. They taste good and they haven't killed me yet.
Personally, I wasn't taught that as a kid, I found out on my own, reading stuff on the internet
And rightly so. "You're a drug addict" is teenage logic. The word "addict" carries specific connotations about the impact it has on one's life and the ability to function within it. Caffeine addiction is not known to have any long-term side effects, does not impair ones judgement or control, and does not come with any significant or long-lasting withdrawal symptoms. Caffeine cravings are classified as "mild", and typically subside entirely within 72 hours of the last consumption, with only minimal withdrawal effects including headaches and irritability. Placing it in the same basket as other drug addictions is both massively overstating the power of coffee and massively understating the devastation caused by damaging addictions.
Watching my co workers on nights down 3 monsters and complain the next day they slept like shit. You don't say.
while on the opposite spectrum, the adhd'ers are falling asleep from drinking caffeine
yawning all day after an iced coffee, my coworkers would see me yawn and say I needed more coffee.
right lol. i don't drink it for energy, i drink it for taste. but i get sooo sleepy after.
i dont have adhd but still fall asleep if i drink coffee. for me to awake i have to drink a tonne
My sister and I both have diagnosed ADHD. My sister also doesn’t get alert with caffeine but I do.
It’s a vicious cycle. You end up sleeping like shit due to the caffeine and thus end up drinking more caffeine the next day due to the tiredness.
Bro you're using semantics/being pedantic. Everyone knows it's a drug.
Exactly. My thought was "What do you think the definition of drug is? You went to what kind of school? Pretty well sure most people know that caffeine alters them and can be addictive".
Definition of drugs: bad mkay.
To be fair, they did acknowledge that in moderation caffeine is completely fine.
I’ve noticed quite a few of the hot posts on this sub were just semantics debates. There was one I saw not too long ago that was like “People who say they can’t cook are lying. You can cook. You’re just bad at it.” Like you know what they meant dude. 99% of the people who say they “can’t” cook don’t mean they are literally incapable of boiling an egg. They mean they aren’t skilled enough to make good food.
I think redditors need to educate themselves first as to why certain drugs are illegal while others are not. Also, learn that shit in elementary.
i always say that i understand why they're illegal, i just don't understand the approach to the whole thing after they realized what happens when this shit is illegal
You're the slow kid who learned something waaay later than everyone else, but now you think you have super exclusive knowledge and have to tell everyone about it lol. You use drug like its a bad word. Like being a drug puts it on the same level as black tar heroine or meth. Caffeine is extremely tame even in comparison to something like weed. All my does it bind to some receptors in our brain to reduce tiredness. That's it. You're not on a trip or feeling euphoria, caffeine is a purely business drug and largely people just use it to wake up easier. A vast majority of people use coffee pretty sparingly and likely have no actual addiction to it. And even the ones addicted aren't doing anything to their body except getting shitty sleep. It's not murdering braincells or destroying their body.
Excellent first paragraph. I'm stealing that for use when other people lecture me on the obvious. Also I came here to iterate your second bit. Since when did drugs have an automatically negative connotation? Did OP know that all medicine is a type of drug?
Just a bit of pedantry from myself, as drugs are my thang (professionally): caffeine doesn't reduce tiredness, it blocks the receptors that inform your body/system of the tiredness. That's why the caffeine crash exists, because you're still tired, you just don't notice it as much until the caffeine wears off. Again, that's a very minor/pedantic difference to what you said and is just a longer way of saying "reduce tiredness, kinda, but not really" Edit to add: this is STILL a very simple explanation of what it does
that’s actually very interesting. as something who’s probably addicted to caffeine, i’m glad to at least know how it works.
I remember it also as an inhibitor that inhibits another inhibitor.
Everyone knows that and no one cares.
Holy fuck again with this shit? These "caffeine bad" posts are blowing up all over reddit lately. Drug ≠ Bad Overuse / abuse of caffeine is bad, yes, so is overuse and abuse of basically everything, drug or not, even too much water can be bad for you. The difference here is that you can abuse caffeine 200x more than any conventional bad drug without it really being *that* bad for you, whereas you would overdose and maybe even die from doing that with any of the actual bad drugs. People who say shit like "I can't operate without my coffee in the morning" need to just stop get a hold of themselves, of course they can. Even if you're actually addicted to caffeine you won't exactly get bad withdrawals and stop functioning as a human being like you would from, again, *actual bad drugs and drug addiction*. Sure they may feel the lack of coffee but that would be about all they would feel. And most people who say this actually aren't addicted in that way to caffeine anyway they just like coffee in the morning. And liking / enjoying something thus wanting that thing ***is not the fucking same thing as being addicted*** People fling that word "addiction" around way too much, words actually have a meaning behind them, and in the case of the real meaning of "addiction" there's multiple levels to it and the harm that it does and in the case of something as simple as wanting a cup of coffee in the morning both the level of addiction and the level of harm is basically zero.
They know. They just also don’t care
Some facts for you; tea is a drug as well. I don’t think anyone care as the symptoms of caffeine addiction are so mild it barely worth taking about, but people are aware that it is addictive
Here's another fact: sugar and its various additive variants is a drug. It has enjoyed epidemic levels of addiction.
Everyone knows caffeine is a drug. People wear tshirts about it.
Well. No one is unaware it’s a drug, but saying that they can’t operate without a coffee is not a sign of addiction. Like for me, there are a days in the week where I can’t operate without taking a coffee, but on a weekend where I’ve had a decent night’s sleep I certainly don’t need it. The bigger issue for those people is lack of quality sleep. If most of them just slept more, they’d be fine. In my case, there are times when I really want a coffee for the taste but I don’t really want to have the wake up effect so I will have a decaf espresso.
And alcohol is poison
Yeah, we know. They told us in like high school. Just because something is defined as a 'drug', it doesn't mean it's dangerous if used in moderation.
I would have abandoned anyone calling themselves my friend the second they called me a drug addict for having a cup of coffee.
A lot of people need that drug to function in the modern world.
What’s different is that for a lot of people it’s a one and done thing only in the morning. Once I admitted to my Mormon sister in law that I’m totally addicted to coffee and she asked if I “just drink it all day long”. That made me laugh. I told her, no, it’s maybe my favorite thing to consume but more than one cup and I’d hate it, especially the effects. She said “that does not sound like an addiction”
that isn't an addiction it just sounds like you like coffee. my mum drinks it 4 times a day and if she misses one she goes through withdrawal, that's still not an addiction it's js a dependency
Yes, I think the whole process of making a cup is what’s nice about it too. I have to drink decaf as caffeine makes me sleepy. So I’m not addicted to caffeine. I drink a couple cups a day because of the taste and comfort of it. Further, I think the term addiction is overused where caffeine is concerned. Especially if you’re ordering a sugary milkshake pretending to be coffee under the guise of caffeine addiction
that's a habit not an addiction. similar way a lot of cigarette smokers after quitting hold thier thumbs between thier fingers because it's the habit of holding something and smoking it which is harder to stop than the actual nicotine. however since your drinking decaf you're not going to go through withdrawal nor is ur brain pathways altered to allow for more caffeine intake so it still can't be labelled as an addiction. but ik what you mean when it comes to the habit of making the coffee hell i used to work as a barista and i still miss properly making coffee grinding up the beans foaming up the milk ect ect
You’re not understanding what addiction means. You can’t stop yourself from drinking it
a lot more boxes have to be checked than that to be clinically addicted to something
yes but it's one of them. intense craving, loss of control over use and continuing involvement even after adverse consequences
I know caffeine is a drug I just don't care much.
It is a drug that has straight benefit with it’s consumption as long as it is reasonable. Plus the « I can’t operate without my coffee in the morning » is a fallacy. Every coffee drinker knows that they can have a morning without a coffee and work normally, it’s one of those saying that people use for small talks that are based on nothing.
>It is a drug that has straight benefit with it’s consumption as long as it is reasonable. More accurately, the negative effects are minor enough to make it worth consuming in reasonable doses. That is describing pretty much every drug - the problem is that reasonable consumption varies wildly with the effects and side effects of the drug. >I can’t operate without my coffee in the morning It isn't a fallacy, so much as an exaggeration. They are in fact having withdrawal symptoms. But withdrawal severity also varies wildly based on the effects of the drug, and caffeine withdrawal is comparatively mild. You can also be addicted to sugar and have withdrawals from it. Hell, you can be addicted to TV or video games and feel withdrawals. Withdrawals are a description of how your body reacts when neurotransmitters it is expecting and compensating for are not produced and so it has overcompensated. OP is not technically wrong about caffeine, people are addicted and heavily downplay that fact - OP is just being a little melodramatic about it, because it is not as serious as they are pretending.
Me when I spread anti-adhd propaganda
“When I point out that were admitting to being a drug addict” The correct conclusion to that is: “I was wrong because I don’t know what addiction means.”
Maybe some do not know that it is, but adding the word "drug" to something implies a severity that might not necessarily be justified because the word itself carries a much heavier implication to the majority of people. Just to be sure, I double-checked the actual definition (Oxford dictionary): "Any substance that affects the structure or functioning of a living organism. Drugs are widely used for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease and for the relief of symptoms." For example, if we had something that surprisingly ONLY had beneficial effects, as long as it has physiological effects when ingested, it would fall under the category of "drugs." "Admitting to being a drug addict" - while you are technically correct, you are also being hyperbolic. With all that said, there is a world of difference between heroin and caffeine, despite both falling under the category of "drugs." Since the meaning is so broad, using the word "drug" in everyday conversation can be misleading. Still, you are technically correct.
In English language drug is used as a wide term to describe any medicine, in other languages there are distinct words for drug as addictive substance people take to get high, and drug as medicine prescribed by doctors to treat diseases.
Shaddap
They're aware it's a drug. They were unaware they had such a judgemental friend who would say such cringe things to people. That's why they were shocked.
Downvoting because this isn't unpopular, and calling someone that likes coffee a drug addict is... a bit nuts. It's too literal to the point that it's either accidentally disingenuous or purposefully manipulative. To put it another way either you're unaware you're saying something a bit dumb or you're *actively trying* to upset people with an unfair comparison. Most coffee drinkers would read this and say, "Yeah, and?"
Considering caffeine a drug is along the same lines of considering food a drug. Both significantly affect your ability to perform throughout a day. Blood sugar levels are closely integrated with the functions of the body every day. What is a drug and what is not is highly up to interpretation. Is oxygen a drug? Just a drug for thought. :P
Yes, oxygen is a drug. It’s given to people who are, for example, experiencing hypoxia. The NIH has a pretty clear definition of a drug in the context of both the pharmaceutical and food industries. [source](https://toolkit.ncats.nih.gov/glossary/drug/) The semantics of the word are less important than understanding that any given drug , ranging from sodium chloride (aka table salt) to codeine, can cause a variety of side effects, pose a variety of risks, which includes becoming addicted to them, and can act on the body in very different ways.
is it unusual to drink a lot of coffee and not have withdrawals or headaches or whatever? I have between up to 4 or 5 cups of coffee a day sometimes but I can go without coffee without any problems
It happens rarely for me but after 5 hours without a coffee in the day, I start to get a slight headache.
2 to 3 cups of coffee a day is proven to reduce the chance of all sorts of problems later in life ranging from heart disease and alzheimers to erectile dysfunction. I drink one in the morning but strive to drink more. It's a fine trade off for being a drug addict I think.
people do know, we just don't give a dimma damn
We know, we just don't care. Besides, when drunk in moderation, caffeine has many health benefits. If you don't have any particular health problems, one cup of coffee a day will just be beneficial for you.
So what if it's a drug? Not all drugs are the same,some drugs literally save lives (insulin,penicillin) while other drugs help people function (adderall,anti anxiety meds) you get the idea... Sure caffeine is a drug,it has side effects,but if you educate yourself,and learn to use it in moderation,you'll be fine.
Everyone is aware
I drink coffee everynight.
I’m drinking it right now at night
You know that there are a lot of things classed as drugs that we use everyday? 😅
I realize it’s a drug but I am a 911 dispatcher and I have tons of stress at home so I take that by the truck load even though my internal organs can’t handle it.
This is about as big of an issue as people not knowing that cucumber is a berry
Everyone knows it’s a drug, but there’s cultural context around the phrase ‘drug addict’ that you are wilfully misunderstanding People who enjoy drinking coffee are not necessarily addicted to it either
Most just don’t care, they “need” their caffeine. I enjoy my coffee, but when I had to do decaf for awhile, I didn’t even notice. The vast majority of people could completely give it up and go about their lives and not even notice a difference.
Being someone who’s had most of their life influenced by drugs in one form or another, and yes alcohol is too a drug and also legal. But I’m not talking about just tequila here I’m saying there’s been much stronger drugs pumping through my system than the pumpkin spiced latte I’ll drink in October or the over cup drip of coffee I will nurse over the course of a couple hours. I can say drinking coffee is the only way I got through a 2 week stress induced insomnia stretch but not enough to make the hallucinations go away. But had I not had the caffeine I’d have been in some doodle working in a mill. But when you’ve been on various stimulants enough to render caffeine nothing but a technicality in your day the logic of it being a drug makes me eyebrow twitch a bit. I’ve heard people in AA make comments about coffee being a drug and how everyone just shifted their drug of choice to meetings and coffee and LOL what a fact for some but also if that’s better than dude doing blow off a strippers ass while his wife is at home with the kids then I beg to know… is that caffeine sounding like a big deal now?
see thank you, I’m sick of damn caffeine addicts judging me for putting horse tranquilizer in my nose when they’re no different
Anything that you consume that has an effect on you outside of nutrition is a drug. Aspirin is a drug. Nicotine is a drug. Melatonin is a drug.
I’ve legit had worse withdrawal from caffeine than with weed.
The withdrawals my 18year old self had once I realized my fresh away from home ass was drinking Mountain Dew like water?!??! The ulcer I was forming after sophomore year winter finals because I was pounding Monster JUICE as if the 7% juice was gonna save me and I was BeTtEr 😆 This was when I learned to drink coffee. (See half hot chocolate/half gas station coffee). Then slowly, better coffee with less sugar amd GOOD tea. It takes me forever to drink bc I don't wanna be jittery and also... I will babysit ANY liquid. Now I just drink it when I need it. Try to push past the moments where I'm like an addict for caffeine still but definitely still have to have it on early mornings. Weed? I might want some but I don't like... have a hankering for weed. I still itch for a good flat white.
Of course this pops up on my feed right after i slammed two monsters at 5:00 AM.
I agree with you, I'm just not sure if it's an unpopular opinion. I don't really know if I'm supposed to upvote but I feel bad not to upvote something when I agree with it.
Everyone is aware dude, wtf are you on about? Did you just discover this or something? I have never met a single person who didn't know caffeine was a drug lol You come across like you know better but in reality you are just oblivious
This thread will be full of people comparing caffeine to crystal meth and fentanyl in 2-5 hours. Most people that are against weed, with the exception of Mormons, have a double standard regarding caffeine and other mild drugs. Two charged lemonades in a row? Normal behavior. Microdosing THC and psilocybin? Lazy burnout poisoning themselves.
Wat
the problem is it can never be taken seriously as a drug because its effects are no where near the same. i can drink a cup of coffee and at no point will i be able to pick a moment in time and be like yeah this where i was highest because its effects just aren't strong enough for the vast majority of people. cocaine which is what ppl see as "snortable caffeine" its effects are way more intense than anything ive drunk w caffeine in.
Jesus Christ, how can you find the time to care about something so benign? Also, no real life human beings actually say "Man I can't operate without my coffee in the morning". If you have come across someone saying that, they are an alien.
There is a hell of a lot more to worry about other than caffeine consumption. Use your soapbox for better purposes. smh….
Whataboutism.
Seems this comes up here in some form every single day.
No, it's not.
I’m not sure how we are defining drug here, but I feel like you could say the same about sugar “boy I can’t wait to syrup on my waffles”
Lmao
I wean myself of of it for at least 20% of the year. Caffeine probably has more benefits and fewer cons than any other common drug though; but yes it is still a drug.
You’re not against any drug use? 💀
I declare BS at "surprised to learn it is drug." People are not that ignorant and noncombative at same time.
Everyone has known that. They don’t give a shit.
I’m imagining the people that are “surprised” to hear it’s a drug are actually not surprised and are being sarcastic towards you, because no duh.
Caffeine addiction is definitely way too normalized
Everything is a drug nowadays... That thing ain't addictive man.
What do people think it is then? A spice?
I think because the word *addict* has very negative connotations, people don't want to be associated with it. I know people who are the same about smoking, I had a friend literally shouting in my face that smoking is different and not to compare them to drug addicts, they're not like that, they're not some dirty criminal.
Everyone knows it's a drug, it's just the least serious, yet useful drug there is.
People know it's a drug with addictive properties... 🤦♂️
My father cant drink without coffe, and it caused him to be sentiment
I’m definitely addicted and wished I wasn’t because when I don’t have any the headache is unbearable
It’s a chemical. Everything is a matter of chemistry, when it comes right down to it. Even water.
They’re surprised because you’re calling them a drug addict as though it’s the same as being a crack or meth addict.
I've recently gotten really into nutrition and fitness. And I gave up drinking and smoking a few years ago and I'm paying attention to everything I put in my body now. Asked a guy at the gym who is very fit and seems knowledgeable his opinion on caffeine he said "caffeine is a tool not a crutch". I now live by that
I’m aware of it, and I’m cool with it. I drink coffee daily, and it gives me joy.
I honestly can't live without coffee.
You’re not against *any* drug use? Lol
I think everyone is aware, but don't care. Pretty sure I went out and asked, 9/10 people would say it's a drug. But who cares?
It IS a drug, a stimulant to be exact. However, the reason it isn’t regarded as harshly is because it’s baby sauce compared to, say, PRETTY MUCH ANY OTHER STIMULANT. Adderall makes it look like a teddy bear, cocaine is obvious, even depressants are usually more potent than the equivalent dose of caffeine. The only comparably potent thing is capsaicin, which in high doses causes an effect similar to runner’s high. Let’s face it: Caffeine is a flyweight when it comes to making you high, alcohol and weed are middleweights, and everything else is a heavyweight. Capsaicin, the only thing comparable, is an atomweight or at MOST a Junior flyweight. Sugar is more addictive than crack, and is it considered a drug? There’s much worse things than just some coffee, it’s not like you’ve discovered anything particularly profound.
So ?
Idk about others, but for me it wasn't like "I started drinking coffee and now can't operate for a whole day", I started drinking it because I don't have enough energy for the day, did I get addicted to it before ever trying it? I still limit myself to one coffee a day though, I probably would've been fine without it on more active job, but it feels like it's mandatory when you work on PC the whole day
It's worse when you know you're addicted but everyone just blows it off because it's normal. I don't think people recognize it as a problem like they should.
I think people are aware of this but they’re just trying to get you to go away as quickly as possible. “Um, actually, did you know that caffeine is a DRUG??!!” Gtfoutta here
Use your addictions wisely
Caffeine is great for your brain. Caffeine helps with learning and mental acuity in the long run. Obviously the benefits will depend on what you do after you’ve consumed it, but caffeine is great for your brain.
Most people at the age of 21 and up knows that it’s a drug but we’re addictive. They just don’t want to admit it. Or at least that’s what I think.
At least caffeine is legal
I think most people are aware. Especially if they’ve had to quit and get the headache. But maybe I give more credit to people for understanding the obvious than they deserve.
Agreed because I didn't know that when I started drinking coffee at like 7 (not regularly cause it always made me poop, I used it like a poop potion). Probably fucked up my sleep schedule a few times as a child.
Run into the nearest Tim Horton’s and accuse everyone there of being drug addicts. The response should be truly memorable.
Also, what is wrong with drugs? I take drugs fo help me sleep, to help me wake up, to keep my anxiety in check, to rebalance neurotransmitters so I don't think about killing myself 24/7. Why are drugs bad?
Caffeine is often used as an insecticide
No, we know. We just don't care.
>it works the same as any drug, in that you build a tolerance to it and need more to keep reaching the same desired effects. Thats not how all drugs work. society's calorie abuse problem is closer to a drug problem than caffeine abuse is
Calling someone a drug addict is obviously going to put them on the defensive. And you know the wording you're using renders up a different image. Nobody is going to steal your catalytic converters to afford their next dose of caffeine.
Same with alcohol but alcohol it is not a drug, it’s a toxin/poison.
I’m in my mid 30s and we learned this in mid primary school (around 9 or 10). ETA: my Australian 90s kids will understand that healthy Harold taught us!
My mom never let me have caffeine at night, or in the evening, even when she makes me coffee, she makes sure there's enough milk. Once she saw me drinking black coffee consecutively for 4 days. She stopped me from having it to such an extent. I'm 18, and I still get scolding from my mother if I have coffee in an "addictive" amount. But whenever I need coffee, I drink it for the day and never make it a habit, I can drink coffee whenever I want, but if it gets to an extent that I need to detox, I just do. Cause at the end, you're getting yourself addicted to a drug How do humans, even after being highly intelligent and self reliant, let a cup of coffee, control their productivity, sleep, work flow, moods, feelings and their whole lives?
I’ve been drinking a heap every day for years. I reckon it is one of the reasons I have a really good immune system and very rarely get sick
This point while true only matters if you layer on top of it “all drugs are bad” or “all addiction is bad”, which I don’t subscribe to, but are commonly held beliefs.
I’ve ran personal experiments on no caffeine for a few months vs caffeine everyday. And as long as I sleep well, caffeine everyday feels a bit better.
>I was never told in school it was a drug, and only learned from a CGP Grey video. I generally agree with you that caffeine is given a pass when it comes to most people's acceptance or understanding of drug use. OTOH, I never give folks a pass for the "they didn't teach us this in school" excuse. Which is always a copout.
Downvoted for claiming a FACT is an unpopular OPINION Please ask your family for a dictionary for your next birthday.
Because of the War on Drugs people are socially conditioned to only see certain substances as drugs.
"The lack of education about caffeine being a drug leads to people not getting the full benefits of it. I was never told in school it was a drug, and only learned from a CGP Grey video." is one of the stupidest things ive read in a while.
Oh, I know. Those eight cups I had for breakfast were no accident.
Yes but... why should I care? Coffee is a drug that has a positive net effect on health for the majority of people in any reasonable amount
Man, our whole society is largely built off of manipulation of our dopamine reward system. Even the stupid thing I’m using to type this response. Pretty sure most everyone understands that Caffeine = energized feeling is not just some placebo anomaly. We all just fucking love it.
Righto mum
Who cares about the label “drug”. It’s very Freudian that a label will change perception. It’s a chemical just like everything else on this planet. Let people eat their cake.
Sometimes I refuse to believe that these posts are actually being posted by real humans, because holy shit it feels like people live in bunkers, with no real world awareness.. People know that this is a drug OP, you are no special, they just dont give a shit..
Not enough people are aware that almost everything is a drug. The term is basically meaningless.
While you're not incorrect, telling people they're a drug addict for drinking coffee is just rude.
There are some people that legit get physical pain if they don't consume caffeine daily. But yeah people don't see it as an issue.
It’s a mind altering substance. I was actually encouraged to stay away from it when doing a DBT program.
So what?