Originally written by a person known as Phyzzle.

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DALLAS — Until this decade, the use of the coffee bean was largely confined to Ethiopian herdsmen, who noticed centuries ago that their goats often would often began to ‘dance’ after eating the berries of the Kaffa plant.

Since its discovery by El Marwa Food Industries in the 1990s, this psychoactive seeds of this member of the evergreen family has quickly become available for sale online and in head shops across the United States.

Though many older Americans have never heard of coffee, the stimulant has become something of a phenomenon among college students. Typically, it is boiled into a black, acrid tea called a “brew”. Consumption of the brew results in a burst of nervous energy, and a respite from drowsiness.

On a Sunday at 8am, Jason, a student at Temple University, awoke and imbibed two cups of brew before heading to the library. He told us that normally, there was little chance of having much of a work ethic at that time of week. He and other students say that coffee allows them to wake up earlier and get more done without dozing off.

The energy boost is also useful for night life activities. It is becoming increasingly popular to mix coffee extracts with liquor into a syrupy concoction known as a “Jaegerbomb”. Users find that it relieves the lethargy inherent in late night drinking, allowing dangerous binge-drinking to continue hours longer than ever before.

“When you see the way these people act on this stuff, well, it sure makes a believer out of you,” said Representative Charles Anderson of Waco, a Republican state lawmaker who is sponsoring one of several bills to ban coffee in Texas. “People are pouring out of the bars at closing time, intoxicated, twitchy, and wide awake. It’s a recipe for serious problems.”

Yet, many pharmacologists believe coffee could open new frontiers for the treatment of ailments from asthma to delayed sleep phase disorder, or even constipation. It is feared that its criminalization would make it burdensome to obtain and store the plant, and difficult to gain government permission for tests on human subjects.

Though research is young and little is known about long-term effects, there are studies suggesting that coffee is addictive. With little data at its disposal, the Drug Enforcement Administration has spent years studying whether to add coffee to its list of controlled substances. In the meantime, 13 states and several local governments have banned or otherwise regulated the plant and its chemically enhanced extracts.

Known on the street by nicknames like Cuppa’ Jo and Tweak, coffee can have vastly different effects depending on dose, potency and the mindset and tolerance of its users, according to researchers and experienced drinkers. Dozens of online vendors sell beans and extracts for as little as a dollar a dose. In particular, potent extract pills, variously branded as “No Doze” or “Vivarin” have raised fears.

There have been several claims of coffee-related deaths.

In 2006, Brett Chidester, a 14-year-old described by his family as a model student and athlete, took 8 Vivarin extract pills before a basketball game for an extra performance boost. He collapsed mid-game, and was later pronounced dead. The use of the extract was listed as the primary cause of death.

Several months later, Delaware’s Legislature banned coffee by passing a bill it called Brett’s Law.

In March, Daniel Compston, a medical student in Baltimore, was hospitalized after exhibiting erratic behavior, delusions, and trembling. He had been awake for three days studying for exams, and had fueled himself with a constant intake of coffee brew.

“What we really worry about,” Mr. Anderson said at the hearing, “is a surgeon staying up for days on end, and having his judgment suffer, or youngsters getting their hands on this and then doing too much. We don’t want to wait until that happens before taking action.”

At a legislative hearing near Dallas in August, Mr. Anderson argued that by not banning coffee, governments were communicating that it is benign. He noted that Internet purveyors advise that coffee intake should be tightly controlled, and said its legal status might encourage experimentation among some who would never consider a back-alley drug deal.

The proposed laws could pose a substantial burden to researchers at institutions like Harvard and the University of Kansas who are convinced that coffee’s active compound, caffeine, holds great promise and will aid in the development of new lines of medications to treat fatigue.

Many scientists believe coffee should be regulated like alcohol or tobacco, but worry that criminalization would encumber their research before it bears fruit.

“We have this incredible new compound, the first in its class; it absolutely has potential medical use, and it could be used to replace prescription amphetamines – which are pretty clearly more dangerous. But now we’re talking about throttling it because some people get intoxicated on it,” said Dr. John Mendelson, a pharmacologist at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute who, with federal financing, is studying coffee’s impact on humans. “It couldn’t be more foolish from a business point of view.”

Though states are moving quickly, Bertha K. Madras, a deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said federal regulators remained in a quandary.

“The risk of any drug that is intoxicating is high,” Dr. Madras said. “You’re one car ride away from an event that could be life-altering. But in terms of really good studies, there is just very little. So what do you do? How do you make policy in the absence of good hard cold information?”

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