Losing my addiction

I drink about four cups of black tea a day (five maximum); that is too much as I seem to have a dependance on it. When I wake in the morning, I have tea right away to activate my brain and body. What I would like to do when I wake up is meditate; but I must have tea first. Of course, I have the tea, read the paper…check e-mail….by the time I’ve completed all that, my mind is filled with matters of the day and not in meditation mode.
This morning, I thought I would have a somewhat less strong cup in the morning and one in the afternoon. By about noon I was very not…functional. I just had a strong cup of Irish Breakfast so I could have the energy to pick up the laptop and press down on the keys. So I think I’ll try strong in the morning and afternoon and work my way down from there.

Several years ago, I had some major surgery that hurt. (It really really hurt; I had a 36cm steel bar inserted under my ribcage). After that I was on several narcotics. I had a doctor specifically for the pain; we had this whole plan for my gradually coming off the medications in order to reduce withdrawal. I basically just stopped cold; it was awful for about a day then seemed to pass. However, if I don’t have tea, my body protests vehemently. This makes me wonder about the whole classification and regulation of drugs; I can start and stop morphine without issue but can’t just cease drinking tea. Tea is something I can purchase at any grocery store, but morphine is a controlled substance (though, granted, narcotics have significant side effects and don’t really help one wake up in the morning. I think it would be probably about the worst idea ever if Starbucks starting selling narcotics to folk on the morning commute—however, that might reduce incidents of road rage).