>Liza May: >...Astrid Nehlig, Ph.D., of the French National Health and >Medical Research Institute ...(snip)... caffeine appears to >act differently from amphetamines, cocaine, morphine or >nicotine, Nehlig says. These drugs are known to trigger >functional activity in the shell of the nucleus accumbens, >the part of the brain responsible for addiction even at low >doses, she says. I don't know anything about nuclei accumbens, but speaking strictly for me, up until very recently I drank about 12 oz. of brewed coffee, what they'd probably consider 2 cups, a day. Any time I didn't get it I'd get one heck of a nasty headache for about 12-16 hours or so, starting around 30 hours after my last "fix". To me, that's an addiction. Even if the withdrawals aren't as severe as with these other drugs. Cheers, Martha