Every day starts pretty much the same. Thousands upon thousands of Americans start the morning with a cup of Joe, java, coffee, a latte, a goddamn cappuccino. We are a nation of socially acceptable addicts. We are the begging birds and our mother is the international chain of caffeine drinks known as Starbucks. We get our tall, grande, and venti. What I’d really like to know is what happened to good ol’ fashioned small, medium, and large. My coffee isn’t pure Columbian; it’s some cheap crap that I picked up at the local market, brewed five minutes ago, and the one thing that I’m hoping for is that the milk hasn’t gone bad……good.
No one complains about a caffeine-head’s addiction to coffee. No one says they have to go to a CAA meeting. They don’t get condemned for staying up all night drinking a pot. They won’t get shot or arrested trying to get a pound. It is the most common addiction in the world.
To understand this coffee craze, we turn to the meaning of the word addict, a person who builds tolerance for a substance and experiences effects of withdrawal without the consumption of that substance. All this holds true for coffee. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 4th Revision, coffee/caffeine is an official addiction. What we don’t know is that a person has to drink ten cups of coffee each day to be classified as a “legitimate” addict. All across our country, people are jumping the gun, saying to their friends, family, and even themselves that they are caffeine addicts. This is the single addiction people accept. Coffee addicts recognize their need well before their physicians, shrinks, or rehab nurses do. People tend to ignore the abuse of almost any other substance or activity, such as, tobacco, cocaine, crack, heroin, oxycotin, opium, alcohol, acid, ecstasy, and even sex.
We are the nation of socially acceptable caffeine buzzed drones. Welcome to America. Good morning