Journal: News & Comment

Withdrawal

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I drank no coffee until I was 22 years old. It wasn't any sort of moral choice -- I just didn't like it. But free coffee and some late nights at a job that year made me into a caffeine addict, and I remain one. People talk about being "coffee addicts" as a joke, but it's still true. Caffeine is certainly addictive, but only mildly so, and the drug's effects are also relatively benign. That's why it's still legal.

This past weekend, while on a one-night road trip to the very posh Château Whistler Resort with my band, I did an unusual thing: even though there was free in-room coffee, I didn't drink any first thing in the morning, until we had brunch around 10:00 am. I was sluggish and headachy, in genuine withdrawal. (I was also developing a small cold and had been up fairly late too, of course.)

Still, of life's guilty pleasures, a good coffee is nothing to worry about. I hope.

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