Coffee lovers more prone to drug addiction

According to the findings of a new study, young people who respond positively to caffeine, a prime ingredient of coffee, are more likely to get addicted to other stimulant drugs such as amphetamines and cocaine.

Though not every coffee lover will abuse cocaine, but there existed an obvious vulnerability to the effects of such drugs, researchers marked.

The study
For the study, researchers at the Vermont University enrolled 22 young people.
In the first trail, the participants were required to choose from either caffeine packed drinks or placebo drinks.

Participants who picked caffeine drinks seven out of ten times were categorized as ‘choosers’ and those who did exactly the opposite were categorized as 'non choosers'.

In stage two of the trail, after taking different doses of d-amphetamine, the participants were required to rate the stimulant.

It was found that people who were ‘choosers’ in the first trail were the ones who enjoyed the effects of d-amphetamine.

On the other hand, ‘non-choosers’ of the first trail found d-amphetamine unpleasant, researchers highlighted.

Study only suggests a possible inclination to drugs
“While these data do not mean that every coffee lover is at risk for proceeding to cocaine abuse this study does show individuals vary markedly in their subjective and behavioural response to psychomotor stimulants, and those for whom a modest caffeine dose serves as a reinforcer are the same folks who subsequently report more positive subjective effects of d-amphetamine,” study’s lead researcher, Professor Stacey Sigmon, of Vermont University said.

“Future research will be important to examine whether caffeine reinforcement predicts vulnerability to reinforcement and abuse of classic psychomotor stimulants such as amphetamine and cocaine,” Professor Sigmon added.

The findings of the study are published in the Drug and Alcohol Dependence.