Long before the Surgeon General discovered it, everyone knew that smoking cigarettes is not a healthy habit. Everyone knows that bubbly brown water sweetened with sugar and spiked with caffeine is not a health food. And so too are the public schools themselves, hooking children on caffeine and Ritalin. Now schools encourage the use of addicting, mind altering the drugs the government endorses, while admonishing them about the hazards of drugs the government forbids. As in other aspects of life, adults may miss, or deny, the hypocrisy obvious to children.
Caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world today.
It is a central nervous system stimulant whose effects range from mild increase in alertness to jitteriness, hyperactivity, heightened anxiety and even agitation. It also depletes calcium in bone and can cause diarrhea and increased urination. The International Olympic Committee lists caffeine as a restricted drug. Jolt and Surge owe their popularity to their high caffeine content. According to statistics from the Beverage Marketing Corporation, in 1970, annual soda consumption was 22.4 gallons per person, and in 1998, it was 56.1 gallons per person.