Caffeine is a drug. It causes physical dependence. I’m under the impression it has (at least some) adverse health effects. Why is it so common and normal and even socially encouraged compared to other drugs?
(hint: it’s because getting workers on stimulants makes them more productive under capitalism by taking more of their energy and time)
All drugs (from ibuprofen to cocaine) have benefits, side effects, risks, and often forms of dependence (physical, mental, social, spiritual, etc), and we can evaluate them as they are when making decisions on our drug consumption, rather than letting governments and corporations push some drugs on us and keep other drugs away from us.
Alcohol, nicotine and even some medical drugs are a part of the social norm too. It’s expected of people to use those… overuse to the point of serious addiction, not quite. Is there any other drug where unnerving withdrawal symptoms just make you a quirky person?
Don’t talk to me until I had my coffee
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There’s one reblog chain about how every barista had at least one customer who very intently asked for a venti cup of espresso, or something equivalent. And no one gives a second thought.
Is there any other drug where unnerving withdrawal symptoms just make you a quirky person?
Well, since you asked: LSD and most psychedelic mushrooms/truffles are physically entirely non-addictive and have very very low levels of mental addictiveness (the only addiction factor being the desire to repeat a fun experience) so they have no withdrawal symptoms at all. Some other drugs like mescaline are also a lot less physically addictive then coffee.
Psychedelic drugs have risks, of course, but so do the legal drugs we take. The point of this post was that the difference between legal and illegal drugs and drug use considered normal or deviant is in many cases (including coffee) not their addictiveness or their health risks. It’s got much more to do with ‘does this drug make me more productive?’ and ‘can we conntrol specific minorities by making this drug illegal?’.
Most people are addicted to coffee, a large number of people are addicted to alcohol. Most will NEVER give up either.
It is very telling that we only consider them ‘seriously addicted’ once they fail to perform well in a job as a result of their addiction.
QueerAnarchism 