Learn about drugs | Caffeine

The world's most consumed psychoactive drug, it is legal and unregulated in nearly all parts of the world. You can find it in coffee, tea, energy drinks, chocolate, sodas, yerba mate, kola nuts, guarana and Camellia sinensis.

Caffeine is a bitter, white, powdery alkaloid, so yes, caffeine does have taste. It can raise dopamine and glutamate levels, it can inhibit GABA which can cause anxiety, insomnia and negative cardiovascular effects.

It is important to mention that caffeine is lethal and moderately addictive, a lethal dose is 3 grams of pure caffeine, the LD50 (lethal dose, 50%)  is believed to be 150 mg/kg, so do your math to find out how much caffeine can kill you. 

What can I expect?: 

Caffeine is a stimulant, and depend on the dose you are going to consume, but for a common dose (50-150 mg) you will experience increase concentration, decrease fatigue and better memory. With high doses (150-500 mg) the negative effects will start to showing up, like shaking, jaw clenching, aggravation and constant need to urinate. Heavy doses (+500 mg) are not recommended since you will start having body spasms, paresthesia all over the body, hallucinations, paranoia, anxiety, sleep deprivation, shaking, jaw clenching, aggravation and the urge to urinate will become stronger. 

Oral:

It comes in the all forms we know of, coffee, soda, tea, chocolate, energy drinks and some other plant. The total duration of the drug is 3 - 5 hours, the onset is 5 - 30 minutes and is strongest 1 - 3 hours.

Intranasal: 

Few people know about this, but caffeine can be snorted, like anything snorted it can have a lot of risks like  

 - Damaged nose lining
- Damaged Sinus
- Eye infection 

The Pros of this method are that you require less caffeine to get that same effect if you consumed X quantity of caffeine via oral.  Please, take this with a pinch of salt, since this method is not wildly use, there's not too much information about it.

Doses:

 Threshold 10 - 20 mg  Light 20 - 50 mg Common 50 - 150 mg Strong 150 - 500 mg Heavy +500 mg

Withdrawal: 

These effects only last 24 - 72 hrs for low dose regular consumers. The regular symptoms are headache, sleepiness, irritability, lethargy,  constipation, depression, muscle pain, lack of concentration, fatigue, flu-like symptoms, insomnia, nausea and vomiting, anxiety, brain fog, dizziness, heart rhythm abnormalities. The symptoms of withdrawal only last a few days to a week for light caffeine consumers but can last 2 months or more for those that had been consuming around 1000 mg or more daily. However, even for the heaviest of consumer the worst symptoms subside after about a week’s time.  Caffeine CAN be addictive. To ease these symptoms please gradually ease back, exercise and drink plenty of water.