When you think of psychoactive drugs that are widely accepted by all of society, what comes to mind? You could perhaps make an argument for marijuana, but many are also still opposed to even legalizing it... Including our government. A better answer would be that of alcohol and caffeine. They're legal, they're potent, and almost everybody partakes in at least one.
When you think about it, they're very similar- both are predominantly found in drinks. Both have spawned whole industries that spawn businesses all over American and European metropolitan areas. The coffee shop and the bar are equally prevalent in some areas. Both can be found in several kinds of drinks, like tea and coffee and energy drinks, or wine and beer and vodka. Both are used in social and casual settings. That's where the similarities end however, because there is one massive caveat- one is a stimulant and one is a depressant.
This difference and its implications have shaped history. Primitive humans drank alcoholic beverages because it was less likely to be contaminated than the water. This habit of drinking was quite pervasive to this day and became the regular drink in pre enlightenment Europe.... Until the Arabs discovered caffeine. Then the Europeans traded with them, and suddenly the morning booze was replaced by the morning Joe. Consequently, the enlightenment period was suddenly jolted into high gear around this time, and it has been noted that people such as Adam Smith wrote their magnum opus at a coffeehouse. This shift from something that made you clumsy to the alertness of caffeine helped to create a massive era of human innovation.
To this day, the differences between the cultures around the two drugs can't be understated. Alcohol is not a beverage that is associated with work ethic. It is taken to relax, to party, and to forget. If you drank alcohol before a test, you would be more likely to fail it unless you were majoring in art and even then it may harm you by inhibiting your coordinating. Bars are not typically IN college campuses either, but that doesn't stop procrastinating students from going to them. There's a reason it is banned for all under 21- alcohol alone is not conducive to hard work and success.
Caffeine on the other hand, goes hand in hand with work ethic. It's given for free at workplaces. Coffee shops are found all throughout college campuses. A construction worker chugs a red bull as he operates his forklift. High schoolers drink it before tests in the morning for that academic edge. Similar to fellow stimulant Adderall, it is used to boost the limits of our processing power... In a less neurotoxic and mania inducing manner. It can be used in a social manner but this use often leads to rapid exchanges of idea rather than slurred ranting (the French and American revolution started in coffeehouses). Caffeine is the drug of the successful, revolutionary, and hard working.
Taken to the extreme of intake, the difference in these two drugs is even more stark. Alcohol will leave you living with your grandma in your middle ages, barking like a dog in online voice chats, and dropping your promising lawyer career for a Turkish pedophile. Caffeine will land you among the enlightened scholars of society in school or in your career, and your social outings with it will leave you with ideas, not hangovers. Which of these drugs shall you choose to partake in? Perhaps none, but it's for you to decide.
Sources-
https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/alcohol-caffeine-created-civilization
