Drug Myth 1

Rank	Drug	Score (0-10)
1	Nicotine	9.9
2	Ice, Glass (smoked methamphetamine)	9.8
3	Crack	9.6
4	Crystal (injected methamphetamine)	9.3
5	Valium	8.6
6	Quaaludes	8.0
7	Seconal (barbiturate)	7.8
8	Alcohol	7.7
9	Heroin	7.5
10	Crank (snorted amphetamine)	7.4
11	Cocaine	7.0
12	Caffeine	6.9
13	PCP	5.5
14	Marijuana	2
15	Ecstasy (MDMA)	1.5

As the above chart shows, the three legal drugs - nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine - are no less addictive than supposedly "hard" drugs and significantly more addictive than others. It may appear ludicrous that caffeine and cocaine are comparable, but this demonstrates how effective the anti-drug campaign has been since cocaine was outlawed in 1914. Before the drug war, the inherent “evilness” separating these substances did not exist.

The vast difference in their effects stems from how they are consumed. Because caffeine has not been criminalized it is readily available in beverages. Ingestion is the slowest and least efficient method to take a drug because of the lengthy rigors of the digestive process. (The quick “high” from most caffeinated beverages is psychological or from its large sugar content.)

Method	Time to Hit Brain
Smoking	7 – 10 seconds
Injection – vein	15 – 30 seconds
Injection – muscle or skin	3 – 5 minutes
Snorting (nasal passages’ mucous membranes)	3 – 5 minutes
Contact w/ Mucous Membrane – eye	3 – 5 minutes
Contact w/ Mucous Membrane – skin	15 – 30 minutes
Ingesting (varies widely by stomach content)	20 – 30 minutes

In the 1930s Congress attempted to outlaw caffeine but it was a practical impossibility with the abundance of caffeinated products. Cocaine was not as fortunate. Before criminalization, cocaine was used much like caffeine is used today. Thomas Edison, Ulysses S. Grant, and Pope Leo XIII all enjoyed drinking cocaine wine, Vin Mariani. Grant used it to give him the energy to write his memoirs. Cocaine also came in chewing gum, lozenges, teas, and elixirs. The most famous of the latter is Coca-Cola which had the equivalent of a small line of cocaine in every bottle. (Cocaine comes from the coca plant.) Coca-Cola’s popularity did not falter when it was legally targeted for containing cocaine because the cocaine was replaced with a comparable stimulant, caffeine.

The criminalization of a substance immediately creates incentives for it to take a more potent form for multiple reasons, e.g. discreet distribution and use. Now that cocaine’s criminalization is approaching the century mark its mild forms have long been forgotten, and instead cocaine now comes in the form of crack so that it can easily be smoked. Those that believe there is a vast difference between guzzling caffeine energy drinks on an empty stomach and snorting a couple lines of cocaine have likely done neither.