withdrawal symptoms are minor enough as to not deter quitting if someone wishes to do so.
"I can quit whenever I want" isn't exactly an uncommon refrain from addicts.
Right, but when a crack addict or a heroine addict says that, medical professionals respond "no, you can't, because you're addicted." In contrast, medical professionals have not found this to be true of caffeine. I'm not talking about allowing individuals to define whether or not they're addicted, but rather appealing to the scientific evidence which has repeatedly demonstrated caffeine to be a non-addictive substance.
My own experiences with regular and recurring high doses of caffeine are quite contrary to your suggestion that withdrawals are easy. If anyone else here has gone from three+ cups first thing every morning to zero cold turkey and found the process easy, I would welcome their input.
I do it on an annual basis. My caffeine intake levels would probably put me in the top 5% more often than not, because the things I like to drink tend to contain caffeine, especially now that I work in an environment where it's our main commodity, and I get free drinks. But I usually drop caffeinated beverages for lent, and other than a slight headache on day one, sometimes day 2, it's not a problem. And I don't take otc medicine, so I'm not just masking the pain until it goes away. I've always had more negative side effects from giving up meat for 47 days than I have from giving up caffeine.
Like I said, I will continue to defend your right to abuse your body in whatever way you choose. It's yours, after all. This particular vice, though, isn't for me.
I'm not telling you to start drinking coffee/caffeine again, just saying that it's a non-addictive substance, and using terms like "abuse your body" is misleading, as mounting medical evidence has demonstrated.
If you want to not drink caffeine, go for it, but entering a thread about a drink which is a source of caffeine, telling the participants that they are abusing their bodies, and drawing an indirect parallel to heroine, really doesn't come across that well.