Should coffee be regulated? A couple of questions/answers on this site make it clear that many people feel that coffee is addictive, at least for some fraction of consumers. 


  My question, for those who believe coffee is addictive, is whether and how it should be regulated? 


I am leaving the notion of "regulated" open. It could mean banning sales of coffee to minors, collecting a surtax to fund treatment, printing warnings on containers, and so on. 

Given the emerging addiction-lore on the web I think it would be naive to assume that coffee would never be regulated. So I am interested in the extent to which people entertain or support regulatory ideas we currently associate with more potent drugs.

If one really believes that coffee is harmful and addictive, wouldn't one at least support a warning label on cups? Restricted sales to minors? The dangers listed in this well-received answer, if one accepts them, seem to commend at least mild warnings.   

Edited 11/13 to link earlier question/answer.
Generally, governments find it necessary to regulate addictive substances due to quality of life or health issues that stem from abuse/addiction. While I will neither support or attack this kind of reasoning, when you think about children born addicted to heroin or methamphetamine, the property crimes generally associated with addiction, and the additional strain on our health care system, you can begin to at least understand it.  

Coffee addiction is far less financially taxing (my dependence costs me roughly $10/week or less), less likely to disturb my health in any appreciable way, and socially acceptable at all levels of society.  

The coffee industry generates plenty of revenue for government as is.  Starbucks is paying their taxes just like every other corporation.  Creating an additional branch of government employees to regulate or adding additional employees to an existing administration (FDA perhaps?) are all expenses to regulate something that isn't currently a problem.  So it's an expense without any appreciable benefit. 

TL;DR  Since coffee is a low impact and highly supportable dependence, government has little or nothing to gain by regulating it's use.