Caffeine replacing nicotine as drug of choice, researcher says.(Originated from Knight-Ridder Newspapers)

Publication: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

Publication Date: 20-SEP-96

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COPYRIGHT 1996 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service

WASHINGTON _ Watch out, Dr Pepper: A top caffeine researcher thinks you have the potential to be Joe Camel.

With antismoking sentiment snowballing behind strict government regulations, caffeine has supplanted nicotine as America's socially accepted drug of choice.

But people are forgetting that, like nicotine, caffeine is a physically addictive drug that could be harmful, says Dr. Roland Griffiths, a Johns Hopkins pharmacologist.

``Thirty years ago, we just socially accepted smoking as a part of our culture,'' Griffiths says. ``Nicotine really wasn't even considered a drug. I think the same is true of caffeine today.''

Although...

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