Caffeine, the most widely used drug on the planet, is consumed by college students both early in the morning and late at night. Products containing the drug are now more accessible to students, as their peers market popular energy-inducing products from large companies.

With more than six places to buy coffee on campus at Binghamton University, students are constantly in the presence of caffeine. This presence has grown with the increase in the number of students on campus who are employed as representatives for large caffeine-centered brands.

Although prescription drugs and illicit substances are strictly regulated, caffeine is available freely on campus. Ben Amaral, a sophomore majoring in economics, said that he thinks the lack of concern about the drug is due to its social fluency.

“Caffeine is a social norm,” Amaral said. “If you ran into someone studying right now and said, ‘Do you want to go get coffee?’ and they said, ‘Oh, I don’t drink coffee,’ people would bat an eyelash at that.”

Amaral is a collegiate ambassador for Monster Energy, which sells more than 40 flavors of caffeinated energy drinks. Monster drinks are known for having high amounts of both sugar and caffeine, with most varieties having 160 milligrams of caffeine per 16-ounce can. Combined with taurine, an amino acid, the drink is supposed to improve athletic performance. The drink’s popularity among college students, Amaral said, is the effective marketing of the drink’s performance benefits.

“When you say the word energy drink, it immediately removes itself from the whole drug category,” Amaral said. “Now it becomes a legal thing, and an energy drink, it almost sounds like it can be a prescription — you need more energy, you’re tired, you have an energy drink. That’s what they’re there for.”

The drink, however, is not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. According to Marvin Diaz, an assistant professor of psychology at BU, this leads to more creative marketing that promote effects that in reality may not occur.

“They’re marketed in a way that they can’t say that it actually changes your brain, but they can use words like ‘it improves your mood,’ ‘it makes you more alert,’ but we really don’t know,” Diaz said. “Whether it has any influence on you is not really known yet, and if it were FDA-approved, things like that would be looked into better. A lot of that really may be mythological and people believe it, so people market it that way.”

Amaral is not the only student to sell branded coffee alternatives to students on campus. Carter Freedlander, an undeclared freshman, is a campus CEO for Nootrobox, the company that sells Go Cubes, which are solid, chewable coffee with a gummy consistency. Each cube contains 50 milligrams of caffeine, equivalent to a half cup of coffee. Freedlander individually promotes and sells the cubes to students on campus.

Like Monster, the cubes also boast various nootropic supplements, including L-theanine. According to the Nootrobox website, research has shown that the combination of caffeine and L-theanine have strong positive effects on word recognition and are meant to enhance focus and clarity — all of which Freedlander said are necessary for college students’ success.

According to Freedlander, they provide the buzz found in coffee without the subsequent crash and withdrawal, which makes them more appealing to students looking for additional motivation.

“Most people that are in school do something to keep them going and almost everyone drinks coffee,” Freedlander said.

The University also profits from caffeine sales in the bookstore, as Vivarin, a type of caffeine pill, and 5-Hour Energy drinks are sold there. Diaz said that it’s important for students to keep in mind that although these are sold by the University, they are highly addictive and should be consumed in moderation.

“Historically, people [drink] caffeine because it does make you feel a little more awake in the morning, but the problem is when it’s in excess and when it’s in these high levels, like [those found in] these high-caffeinated drinks like Monster,” Diaz said. “At that point, you’re now doing it in a different way than what it’s intended to be for and in a way that is different from where we know it’s safe.”