Posted on 03/14/2005 12:33:42 PM PST by freebilly
SANTA CRUZ — For Santa Cruz resident Midjann Velzy, the combination of drinking coffee and driving a car became "a potential road-rage situation."
Velzy swore off the strong stuff 13 years ago after flipping someone the proverbial bird during her commute home from Silicon Valley.
"There I was, trying to be in my Zen place," she said of that final, bad, caffeine-induced moment.
"Now I drink very little coffee," she said, "and it’s decaf only."
Her personal caffeine awareness campaign was ahead of its time.
A proclamation signed by Santa Cruz Mayor Mike Rotkin has declared this month "Caffeine Awareness Month" for all of Santa Cruz.
"Caffeine consumption can pose a significant hazard to health and longevity," reads the proclamation.
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"This is crazy," said Jim Morgan from a seat outside Caffe Bene on Cedar Street. He sipped a tall cup of black coffee and finished his hand-rolled cigarette.
He agreed that neither of his habits was terribly healthy.
"But a cup of java in the morning is a lot better than the old Turkish enema," he said.
The campaign endorsed by Rotkin is part of a national effort by Marina Kushner, author of the book, "Life Without Caffeine." Kushner is also the founder of a company that makes a soy-based coffee substitute.
Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn recently awarded Kushner’s Caffeine Awareness Alliance with a certificate of appreciation for educating the public on the dangers of caffeine.
"I’m not saying people shouldn’t drink coffee," said Rotkin about his proclamation. "But I think some people should really look at their intake."
Rotkin said the move was meant to target hard-core coffee drinkers only. He would not name names, but he says he has worked among the truly addicted.
"They are way too wired for their own good. They’ve got trigger responses to everything," he said. "It’s unhealthy for themselves and others."
Rotkin’s own coffee intake of zero-to-two cups per day doesn’t qualify as problem drinking, he said.
"But I don’t want to be a hypocrite here. I like coffee and I do drink it," he said.
Among health problems associated with caffeine are heart disease, pancreas and bladder cancer, hypoglycemia, and central nervous system disorders, according to the proclamation.
Velzy, the commuter, says she knows about milder and more common side effects of caffeine consumption.
Her muscles became tense when she drank coffee, "because the lactic acid dehydrates your muscles, and then the caffeine goes to those areas," she said.
UC Santa Cruz student Kerry McGrath said she’s been off regular coffee now for two of her 26 years.
"You know — women and osteoporosis — you can’t do that," she said after placing an order for decaf at Lulu Carpenters.
Heavy caffeine consumption has, in some studies, been linked to osteoporosis in women. Decaffeinated coffee typically contains 5 to 6 milligrams of caffeine per 8-oz. cup, as compared with regular coffee, which can contain more than 200 milligrams per 8-oz cup.
"I’ll still get a buzz from this," McGrath said when her drink was delivered.
"Decaf really doesn’t taste the same, though," she said, looking glumly into her cup.
After deciding that caffeine made her "stressed and impatient" toward her kids, Nora Baer cut down by experimenting with teas and other less-caffeinated drinks.
"I was nervous, my heart was beating too fast, I didn’t want to talk to people," she said of the ill-effects of being a coffee junkie. "I just didn’t function very well."
Baer, who was sipping a chai on her day off, said she thinks the caffeine-awareness campaign is "a very good idea."
She still drinks two cups of regular coffee on workdays, and would like to drink less.
"It’s the one bad thing I still haven’t been able to cut out," she said.
Jim Murukami, imbiber of up to eight tall cups of regular coffee per day, was unfazed by the news that March is caffeine awareness month.
He lives an otherwise healthy life, he said, and extreme coffee drinking is the least offensive bad habit one can have.
"This is the last commonly accepted drug," he said as he started in on his third or fourth cup. "The reality is that people need a vice. ... and you can’t exactly take a heroin break at work."
Here comes the next target for the Nanny State.
Schadenfreude!
The applicability of the actions of this city council are one thing. But there's no denying that caffeine is a highly addictive drug with deleterious physiological and psychological effect. The effects are controllable, and the drug is legal, but that doesn't change the facts.
Highly addictive substances are heroin and nicotine.
They'll get my coffee when they pry my cold, dead fingers from around the cup...
That's her trouble right there -- "trying" and Zen just don't go together.
Sue "Big Coffee"!
BTW- I was disturbed by the guy with the hand-rolled cigarette talking about a "Turkish enema"? What the hell was THAT all about?
In Santa Cruz there plenty of other accepted ones, actually.
I can't wait to see Starbuck's as a defendant in a civil suit brought about by someone arrested in a road rage incident....
"A Fistful of Dollars" will get you a Grande Frappuchino....
It's only a matter of time.
I was going to comment on the "trying to be in my Zen place" comment, but got sidetracked. Who talks like this? I don't think that caffiene is her biggest problem.
I think a Turkish enema is an enema with coffee. I could be wrong, but I'm afraid to Google the term....
That pretty much defines Santa Cruz's city gubermint.
When was the last time you were in Santa Cruz?
Wouldn't they be much happier if they just killed us all?
Thanks for the info. I would be afraid to google the term, too. LOL!
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