Rockland Health Officials Warn of Dangerous Drug Trend: Caffeine Powder

Coffee, tea, caffeinated sodas—they help us wake up in the morning and look alert in our cubicles after lunch. 
It's the caffeine, of course—which occurs naturally in many plants used for making food and drink (chocolate, anyone?) and is now being added to everything from waffles to bottled water. 

"Caffeine is probably the most frequently ingested pharmacologically active substance in the world," said Dr. Margaret Hamburg, FDA Commissioner, in a 2013 speech. 

So it's not surprising that ingenious entrepreneurs have been marketing an even purer form of caffeine—powder. 

But after two widely-reported deaths from caffeine-powder overdoses, the substance is getting a hard look from health and substance-abuse professionals.

Ohio high school senior Logan Stiner, 18, went home for lunch May 27 and took too much. His brother walked in and found him dead next to the white powder, Time magazine said. 

In October 2013 a British man died of a caffeine overdose after eating a bunch of energy mints, the newsmagazine reported.

"This product, unregulated by the FDA, is a soft, white, powdery substance, touted as being an instant pick-me-up that can be sprinkled onto any food or mixed into any liquid," reports the Drug Free Action Alliance. "While you’re not likely to see it on store shelves, it’s all the buzz online, as well as easy and cheap to order (even cheaper if you buy in bulk). One site sells 100 grams of “pure powder” for under $12."

And you don't need a lot to get that jolt: one teaspoon equals 30 cups of coffee. 

According to the FDA, too much caffeine can make you feel jittery and shaky, make it hard to fall asleep or stay asleep, cause headaches or dizziness, make your heart beat faster or cause abnormal heart rhythms, cause dehydration, and can make you dependent on it so you need to take more of it.

“With powdered caffeine so readily available, it’s important to talk with your children about the potential dangers of this drug. Remind them that just because caffeine is legal and its use is socially acceptable, it doesn’t mean it is completely safe,” said Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, Rockland County Commissioner of 
Health.