Asklemmy

Pharma companies would already have a caffeine equivalent that would be only slightly different in structure so it would circumvent the law. It would then be sold at exorbitant prices and people would still pay even with the side effect of sometimes you eat someone's face. Of course they would then sell you something else to stop the side effects. You would also have the caffeine purists who would start their own speak easies and organized crime. People "abiding by the law" would start calling the purist, plants, since that is where caffeine is coming from, while the synthetic caffeine users would be called zombies for the obvious face eating reasons. This whole thing would cause even greater divides between already split countries leading to all out war. WWIII plants vs zombies.

I think once upon a time alcohol was illegal somewhere? That's what would happen. And I'd totally join a mafia

Pretty much the same as with every illegal product. It would move to black market because as long as there is demand there will always be a supply.

Ever heard of prohibition? Probably that.

I can't imagine some shady guy in a street corner saying "I've got the stuff" and it's just fucking coffee beans 💀

Any government which makes caffeine illegal must be prepared to enforce that law with mass violence, or let it be ignored.

Given how unlikely your average cop is going to enforce a law they regularly brea... Oh, nevermind. Yeah it'd be a shit show. Demonstrations, arrests, black markets, the whole nine yards.

It's a part of so much natural food it'd be impossible to ban

The same thing that happened when they made shipping nicotine through the mail illegal.

I stock up on a shitload of pure caffeine/nicotine, and store it.

Either that, or I start extracting it from other commonly available foods... (caffeine is present in quite a few foods naturally. )

Or, finally.... there would then just become a black market for caffeine.

The same stuff which happened during the prohibition period many years ago.

What would happen if caffeine was made illegal?

black market

Loads of people will go through withdrawal symptoms.

Michael Pollen wrote a audible book about how modern capitalism wouldn't have been possible without the invention of the light bulb and the abundance of caffeinated beverages as it facilitated a 24 hour economy. Literally titled Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World.

So what would happen if the government illegalized caffeine? I'd say they'd be more likely to prohibit literally any other drug including alcohol and tobacco. But if I were to indulge this hypothetical scenario, I'd say other new stimulants without any legal status would be invented to replace caffeine.

I would have a bad headache for a few days, but I would probably power through and not resolve to illegal purchases.

I'm the government's bitch.

Crimes

chocolate

soft drinks

and a few more things (and of course, all other products with chocolate in them. ice cream, candy bars etc)

would also be illegal.

cocaine sales would go up. People would try microdosing. Some of those people would end up regular dosing.

There would be a black market, not only for coffee and tea, but also for caffeine powder, which people would sprinkle into anything.

Peoples' overall caffeine consumption would go down. That girl from my high school who got the shakes every afternoon would probably have been better off.

Mass civil disobedience.

Nicotine sales would probably go up. It's a mild stimulant.

Caffeine doesn't require a laboratory or manufacturing operations. It can come from plants. What would happen is people start growing and developing an underground caffeine distribution network and underground caffeine import network from countries that aren't dumb.

Weed users are less than 20% of the US population and that was a shadow industry bigger than most legal industries. Compare to 60% drink coffee every day, then there's tea drinkers and of other caffeinated beverages; people would riot and/or go underground to get their caffeine.

You think Starbucks has been ruthless against the SBU? Turning them into a drug cartel would mean they go 1900s Pinkertons on them.

Medical errors would become the number one cause of death overnight.

I think if you banned coffee, most countries would have legit riots of not revolutions. The people will put up with a lot, but not that.

Like "you get a fine" illegal, or "you go to jail" illegal, or "Judge Dredd executes you in the street for possessing stimulants" illegal? If the punishment is light or the risk is low, many people probably just keep using it, like alcohol during Prohibition. If there's a harsh punishment and the risk of actually being punished is high, there might be riots.

Most mathematicians will be in jail.

People would suddenly realize it’s better to go to bed earlier and sleep longer than hitting snooze 5 times and needing that energy boost every morning. Who am I kidding, people would revolt.

There'd be a lot more bloodshed on Monday mornings

Bathtub coffee and speakeasys.

I will become Caffeine version of Pablo Escobar 😉😂👊🏻

Caffeine as an additive to drinks is weird.

Perhaps some people would stop punishing their own bodies for the benefit of their employer.

The entire premise of this question seems insane. The only industry in which caffeine is vital is probably the coffee industry.

Yeah, there would be a black market and what not but that doesn't mean the world would stop turning off supply ran out.

The governments probably stop functioning. Apocalypse ensues.

Have a headache for a few days. And reorganize everything to not start the workday before noon.

I would take a 30 minute nap every day after lunch.

It would be yet another failed policy pushed by the kind of idiots who like to ban things. Comics/Guns/Porn/Drugs etc.