On Jan. 1, a campus-wide smoking ban took effect. And though the ban has faced some opposition, it exists with the purpose of creating a healthy environment at the University and promoting safer lifestyles for students and others on campus.  

The ban is a result of University officials’ and some students’ attempts to rid the campus of cigarettes — which contain nicotine, one of the most popular and addictive drugs — and to improve general well-being of those on campus. 

But creators of this ban have neglected to address the presence of an even more prominent drug on campus: caffeine. 

Caffeine is plentiful in coffee, the popular beverage often used as a fuel to replace sleep by perpetually busy college students. In fact, the United States is the world’s largest coffee consumer with 83 percent of adults drinking coffee at an average of three cups per day. That’s 587 million cups every day. 

Our own campus’ addiction to the liquefied, mood-altering stimulant has exposed itself most recently in the opening of yet another cafe on campus. For the sake of everyone on campus, we must assuage the University’s coffee dependency. To do this, we at The Daily Illini feel a coffee limitation is in order. 

Apparently the single Starbucks, six Espresso Royales and countless additional coffee servers on campus weren’t enough, so another Starbucks opened in March in the Illini Union Bookstore. 

And it’s our coffee-guzzling campus members that allow for this economic expansion.

Many of us drink mindlessly, ignoring the very real side effects, which, according to the Mayo Clinic, include insomnia, irritability and muscle tremors, among others. These side effects become increasingly problematic for those who drink more than four cups a day, which is likely the case for many on campus if the national average is three.

These ill health effects also negatively impact our lives as students. Sleep becomes an afterthought. Caffeine-induced agitation makes studying nearly impossible. Our lives begin to revolve around securing our next buzz. 

Aside from the health effects, our coffee dependencies hit us where it hurts college students the most: our wallets. Every high-priced, jitter-abating frappe fix hurls us further into a world of debt, roasting our futures. 

How much further will the addiction that plagues our campus go on before we take the much-needed steps toward intervention?

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April Fools! If there are two things we at The Daily Illini love, it’s a good joke and a good cup of joe. In fact, The Daily Illini staff could single-handedly keep the Starbucks chain in business, and we hope that today we could also give you a laugh.