Caffine: The real gateway drug?

Am i the only one who thinks that Caffine may be the real gateway drug. The government always says that all hard drug users started on marijuana, but i am pretty sure that anyone who has smoked has had caffine atleast once in there lives, most likely many time more then once. I have also noticed, all of the druggies i know all started by drinking energy drinks and coffie. Everybody drinks caffine at one point ir another in coke or coffie or whatever, but when people start to drink it not for the taste but for the energy, they start to find it inadquate becuase the body can have tolerance to caffine and and you need more and more for the same result. if you have enough tolerance drinking an energy drink does nothing noticible and poeple and to get that caffine high but they get beloted on carbonated water and suger before they can get it, this is when they move to other drugs in an attempt to get the high they can no longer get. The reason nobody ever thinks of it being a gateway drug is because nobody ever thinks of it as being a drug. Caffine is eveywehere and is so exepted and used that it is just a thing, not a drug. people often illude themselves thinking... "oh, but coffie and tea are just plants, they cant do that much harm" but then the same people shun Marijuana, thay are just to ignorant to see that they are being hypocritical. as for weed being a gateway drug, it is a stepping sone at best. we cannot ingnore that fact that some people who do hard drugs started on weed, but we also cannot ingnore the fact that ALL people who do hard drugs started on caffine.
discuss....

 

and how many people 'do' caffeine but dont do anything else?

 

billions of people. im only looking at the drug using community. of course there are lots of people who just drink coffie every morning, that doesnt mean there going to start doing crack. but know people who actually "do" caffine. they will go energy drink hunting looking for the highest caffine content and they drink over 500 mg of caffine a day, they are trully addicted. this is when it gets dangerous, the problem is it is very easy to slip from a coffie evey moringing to energy drinkd with tons of caffine. if one day you forgot to put that kettle on and then grab an energy drink in desperation and find that you get more of a kick from energy drinks then coffie and you start drinking them instead. this agains doesnt mean your doing to do drugs, but your at a much higher risk

 

i think the curve between dose and effects is much greater with weed then compared to caffeine or nicotine. a lot of the time when i drink caffeine (i used to pound at least 3 monsters a day) or smoke a ton of cigs the effects can be really subtle, but when you smoke just a moderate amount of weed you could be flying. i think its that "damn, im pretty high" feeling that makes you wonder, what else is out there?

 

A cup of coffee has more caffeine than the vast majority of energy drinks. Caffeine under 300mg a day has been shown to be not unhealthy though, but most people probably consume more than that without realizing it. Tea doesn't even have that much caffeine, like 30mg at the most, and the theanine in it counteracts the caffeine pretty well anyway. Green tea has like 10mg of caffeine, and a lot of theanine, so it isn't even stimulating.

 

a cup of coffie has about 100 mg of caffine. energy drinks have between 130-360 mg of caffine, some even have 500 mg.

 

That isn't true, I don't think I have ever seen an energy drink with 500mg of caffeine in one serving, that isn't even safe for people to be drinking. If I am wrong, please provide sources.

Taken from wikipedia:


Depending on the type of coffee and method of preparation, the caffeine content of a single serving can vary greatly. On average, a single cup of coffee of about 207 milliliters (7 fluid ounces) or a single shot of espresso of about 30 mL (1oz) can be expected to contain the following amounts of caffeine:[79][80][81]

* Drip coffee: 115–175 mg
* Espresso: 60 mg
* Brewed/Pressed: 80–135 mg
* Instant: 65–100 mg
* Decaf, brewed: 3–4 mg
* Decaf, instant: 2–3 mg


Also keep in mind that most people don't drink "cups" of coffee, they drink mugs, which are about two cups. Also a large(venti) coffee at starbucks has 415mg of caffeine.

 

the energy drink Fixx conatins 500 mg of caffine.
http://www.energyfiend.com/caffeine-content/fixx

 

Isn't it two servings in one bottle? And are those even available at your typical store, and how many other drinks contain that much caffeine? Thats more of a supplement too, it would be classified as a thermogenics fat burner. But, I'm not doubting people drink it to get a buzz, I just don't think it is available as much as some other energy drinks, like red bull, or monster.

 

http://www.energyfiend.com/the-caffeine-database

Note that caffeine amounts are for the whole can/bottle.

 

I drink red bulls for the tatse. I love the taste of red bulls.....

 

this is starting to get aside from the point. we cannot deny that caffine is addictive, that has been proven. we also cannot dany that you can bulild tolorance, that has also been proven. if you drink a large coffie evey morning, soon you will get deminished effects, then you will start drinking two coffies every moring, then over time, you will need three. this is where you wonder if there is another way to get stimulated. i am not saying that everyone who drinks one coffie every morning is going to get addicted to caffine, im am just sudjesting that this could be a precourser to drug use, i am also not saying that this is the way all drug users started on caffine, i just think that it may be how some of them started

 

But the vast majority of people drink water before they use caffeine, just because their seems to be a correlation doesn't really prove that they are connected.

 

agreed, you could say that people who get heart attacks all have worn short sleaved shirts and that is a valid agrument and cannot be disproven, but through common sense we know there is no connection. there is a huge difference though (keep in mind im disregarding anyone who drinks caffine for taste). many people who do illigal drugs do, or have done, more then one differnet drug, you cannot deny that connection. once you take caffine for the energy, it is a drug, i think there could be a connection. i could never prove this, but you could never disprove this, it all comes down to common sense, and to me, it makes sense.

 

well caffine is a drug. but I don't think any drug addict (before they became a drug addict) went to starbucks one morning, drank a coffe and said "man, I need something more". I really don't think people drink anything with caffine and notice the tolerance build up. its more all in your mind kind of thing. But i don't think caffine makes people try other drugs.

 

I really don't think this theory makes much sense at all. You haven't said anything that would make me think caffeine leads to other drugs. Caffeine isn't even a real "high", it just makes you feel stimulated. You can't even try to prove this because like 90% of the population consumes caffeine regularly.

 

^^

exactly

 

i think that if a person comes in contact withdrugs they will either say yes or no. i think if they have used any type of drug before they will be more likley to say yes because they are more fermiliar with drug use. the only reason i single out caffine over advil or whatever, becaouse it the most widespread legal recreational drug.

 

I know many people who drink coffee and soda's on a regular basis and are really against drugs. and i know people who drink alcohol but believe pot and other drugs are horrible. it all depends on the person. sure, if you've tried drugs or use drugs, you'll be more open to experimenting with others. but caffeine isn't really isn't a gate way drug. if so, then there'd be many more drug addicts and pot heads out there.

 

i get what your saying, but i think it would be safe to say that much more hard drug users got their start from pot rather than a caffeine addiction

yeah its a drug... but people arnt gonna shoot up heavier stuff looking for a deeper caffeine "trip". pot users on the other hand..