Question

Both alcohol and caffeine affect the neurological system. Although alcohol is a controlled substance, caffeine is not. Develop an argument to make caffeine (coffee and other caffeinated beverages) a controlled substance.

Answer 1

Caffeine=> most widely used psychoactive substance and has sometimes been considered a drug of abuse.

• Classic drugs of abuse lead to specific increases in cerebral functional activity and dopamine release in the shell of the nucleus accumbens.

• In contrast, caffeine at doses reflecting daily human consumption does not induce a release of dopamine in the shell of the nucleus accumbens but leads to a release of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex, which is consistent with its reinforcing properties.

• It also increases glucose utilization in the shell of the nucleus accumbens only at high concentrations; this, in turn, nonspecifically stimulates most brain structures and thus likely reflects the side effects linked to high caffeine ingestion alone.

• Moreover, this dose is 5-10 times higher than the dose necessary to stimulate the caudate nucleus (extrapyramidal motor system) and the neural structures regulating the sleep-wake cycle, the 2 functions that are most sensitive to caffeine.