Coffee Inhalers: The New Club Drug?
As I was looking at the Yahoo homepage today, I came across
the word “coffee inhaler”. The picture depicted a small, lipstick-like tube
with a yellow cap. Since I had never before heard or seen anything like this, I
decided to read the article to learn more.
It turns out that the man who invented this inhaler device
is a biomedical engineer, which is the same major that I am interested in. The
main purposes of this article were to explore whether or not this product is
safe to use, in addition to providing some background information on the
device. This product works by spraying a powdered substance containing caffeine
into the customer’s mouth, where the powder instantly dissolves. This product
is designed to increase the energy of the user much faster than through
drinking a typical cup of coffee, and it can come in handy in places where
coffee cannot be consumed (on an airplane).
The potential problem with this device is that teens will
use the product in combination of alcohol, which can cause many problems since
people do not realize how intoxicated they and continue to drink. In response
to this concern, the creator of this product simply argues that this product is
not intended for these situations.
Another concern with this product is that users will
overdose on caffeine with this device, since instead of having to consume large
volumes of coffee, all one has to do is spray a small amount of powder into
their mouth. For this issue, the founder of this product explains how it would
take more than 80 inhalers in a short period of time to potentially cause
death, and that moderate amounts of caffeine are actually good for a person’s
health.
My opinion on this topic is that coffee inhalers are a great
idea, and that they should not be taken off of the market simply because of a
small minority of the population that will decide to abuse it. I understand
that someone who combines this product with alcohol can endanger the lives of
others (if they were to drive under the influence), but I think that the
alcohol would be to blame in this situation, not the coffee inhaler. Besides,
there are so many other products out on the market that contain both alcohol
and caffeine (alcoholic energy drinks). If the FDA is not willing to ban
products that contain pre-mixed alcohol and caffeine, why should they ban
alcohol-free caffeine products? There is a much wider portion of the population
that will benefit from this product.
Another interesting article…
Crazy Laws Governing Pennsylvania Residents
