Hacker News Reader

Comment by crankylinuxuser | Hacker News Reader

I drink large amounts of coffee. Previously, I bought a 4oz jar of anhydrous caffeine powder. I've also been on 10mg BID amphetamine.

To compare the 2, the amphetamine feels more artificial bodily wise. However ingesting about 500mg caffeine has the similar bodily feel as 10mg amphetamine. Given the amphetamine did some tricks like time delayed whereas the caffeine did not, does make it harder to compare. The caffeine did stay just as long, and provided a much longer bodily high.

These days, I just drink coffee and stay away from pills and powder. Safer.

View on HN

I don't really know how anyone could honestly compare caffeine and amphetamines. One is like a knife and the other is like a 50 cal machine gun, as far as stimulation goes. There is a reason amphetamines are a schedule II drug and caffeine is not.

It's about dosage. 5 mg of amphetamines is really just a bit a boost. Of course if you start cutting lines and snort them to keep awake and dancing until noon the next day, it's a different story.

> I don't really know how anyone could honestly compare caffeine and amphetamines.

They are both stimulants. I've done both, like I said. So yes, for my body (n=1) I can indeed compare them. And it was sincere and honest.

And the only reason why caffeine isn't schedule 2 is the same reason why alcohol and nicotine isn't either. That's purely a societal reason, and no basis in chemistry. If caffeine/coffee was discovered last year, it would be schedule drug. Look no further than kratom.

Yes 500mg caffeine is kinda similar to 10mg amphetamine, but you can easily take more amphetamine, up to a gram in some cases. It’s very much easier to abuse, has a far stronger, profounder and long lasting effect.

It also has some nasty side effects that come with abuse. Mental problems being the first ones, depression, anxiety, mood swings ...

Drug scheduling is a joke. Schedule I is defined: "Substances in this schedule have no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse."

How do alcohol and cigarettes not fit this definition!? Meanwhile, edible cannabis is relatively safe and Ecstacy has shown promise as a component of PTSD treatment. Just a few examples...

And unfortunately, the GP using the fact that $thing is drug scheduled is the same type of idiocy that we see through government.

"Well, marijuana is a schedule 1, so we can't test it for legitimate applications. And since it's schedule 1, it has no medical applications".

There is absolutely no scientific or chemical basis of "schedule". It was originally a way for Republicans (Nixon, Reagan, etc) to use the law to arrest hippies and black people. And we have no further to look at crack/powder cocaine and sentencing disparities. Crack was inner city and primarily used by black people. Whereas powder cocaine was used more by whites outside of the inner city core.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com