Are YOU Addicted? 2nd Draft.

Are YOU Addicted?
-63% of Fall River residents say they are addicted. Addicted to coffee.
By: Joshua Bonanca

FALL RIVER- The next time you pick up a cup of coffee you may be asking yourself, “Am I addicted to this”. Despite the recession across the country the continuous opening of Dunkin Donuts franchise coffee shops in the city of Fall River may lead you to believe many people are in fact addicted to coffee. Currently the city of Fall River is home to seventeen Dunkin Donut shops for a population of approximately ninety-one thousand people.

The second most valuable traded commodity in the world only to oil is coffee (National Coffee Association), which is basically derived from seeds of a coffee plant along with other chemical constituents. One of the main chemical constituents in coffee beans and freshly brewed Dunkin Donuts coffee is caffeine. As you may not know caffeine is considered a “GRAS” a Generally Recognized As Safe substance or drug to the FDA, but a drug none the less. According to the researchers at John Hopkins University it is not the caffeine in coffee but “altering the coffee-drinking routine that produces problems”. Simply stating when missing that morning cup of coffee you may experience a caffeine withdrawal with symptoms ranging from headache, nausea, muscle pain, and in more serious cases depression; that could last up to nine days depending on the amount you regularly drink. Some people may consider this to be an addiction, but it seems to be more of a personal opinion at this point.

The upside of being a heavy drinker is the health benefits it may produce. An article on the WebMD website reviewed by Michael W. Smith, MD says it may reduce the risk of such diseases as type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, colon cancer, and even be used as treatment for asthmas attacks. "Overall, the research shows that coffee is far more healthful than it is harmful," says Tomas DePaulis, PhD. "People who smoke and are heavy drinkers have less heart disease and liver damage when they regularly consume large amounts of coffee compared to those who don't," says DePaulis. But doesn’t drinking coffee everyday get costly? A recent U.S. survey revealed that 69% of American coffee drinkers consider coffee to be an “affordable luxury” (NCA).

I was still a skeptic of coffee addiction like many are, so I did my own research. I surveyed one hundred Dunkin Donuts coffee drinkers with one simple question. “Do you think that you are addicted to coffee” of the one hundred people 63% said they were addicted 31% said they were not and 6% said they really were not sure.

One woman said she was “absolutely addicted to coffee” “I drink at least ten twenty-four ounce cups each day” at two dollars and thirty-nine cent each; coffee “is breaking the bank” says Stacy Sousa who spends approximately $8700.00 a year. Some people may consider this to be an addiction. Are you addicted?




Post write:

I like this paper alot. Possibly because of my own coffee addiction and that I learned some new things while writting it.

I do believe there is room for improvment, in overall structure I am not very familiar with "news story" type writing structures yet.

some questions i could ask my readers; Do you like the piece? Anything specific you did or did not like in this story? Do you think you have a coffee addiction?