breakfast in bed....a typical morning high

The World Of Caffeine: The Science And Culture Of The World's Most Popular Drug Bennett Alan Weinberg and Bonnie K Bealer (Routledge), Reviewed by Marek Kohn

Caffeine is the drug that doesn't overplay its hand. It produces a mood, rather than a sensation. It doesn't induce its consumers to lose their grip on reality or propriety, and it spares them the illusion that they have never quite had enough. Unlike the other major stimulant extracted from a plant, cocaine, caffeine has no great appeal in pure form. Uniquely discreet, it passes almost unnoticed in many of its preparations. The result is global domination. Nine people in 10 around the world use it regularly, the authors of this survey reckon. It is now the one psychoactive drug that can be taken first thing in the morning, or at work, without defying current norms of health, self-discipline and efficiency. And it is the only psychoactive drug that is marketed to children, who swallow it in fizzy drinks and chocolate. Caffeine's knack of hiding in plain sight seems to extend to its scientific profile. Ideas about what it does as it percolates through those billions of nervous systems remain tentative. Studies of its effects on behaviour are also equivocal. Some investigations have found that it only improves mood or performance when the experimental subjects know they have taken it, implying a placebo effect. And as one researcher has pointed out, the almost universal use of caffeine raises a question about what is being measured when studies find that those given the drug perform better than those tested without it. The latter may do worse because they are suffering the ill-effects of caffeine withdrawal. Even a couple of cups of coffee a day can