Drug

Drugs are the most useful daily product for any human beings. EVER. They are primarily used for controlling your body's conditions by giving effects like healing (medical), waking your ass up for the day (tea or coffee) or controlling your emotions so you won't rage quit on any board games. The most popular drugs are the illegal ones, like yummy, yummy cocaine or Jesus’s own personal drug cannabis. They are popular among every chaos warband, especially Slaaneshi cultists and that bat-shit insane demonic biker. The good thing about drugs is that they get shit done. You wanna win the war? Poison the enemies' water supplies and let them have it! You wanna get stronger and beat up everyone? Use steroid(s) and wreck everybody!! You wanna feel confident enough to sing that karaoke song and beat up everyone without getting stronger? Drink 7 beers!!! You wanna enjoy food more, laugh more, have more intense orgasms, quash rage and anxiety, think deeply and more empathetically, and soothe aching muscles? Imbibe some weed!!!! But be warned, side effects ensue.

It is worth noting how edgy talking about drugs even in fictional sci-fi settings like 40k and Necromunda was in the 80s and 90s. None other than Rick Priestley talks about this here.

On /tg/

Drugs plays a big part in RPG where it can be consumed as some kind of buff to your character. The classic red HP potion and Blue magic potion count as drugs, mind you.

Warhammer 40k contains a lot of reference to drugs thanks to the likes of the Dark Eldar and Slaanesh. Other than the likes of depraved alien species and daemon-worshiping cultists, having a universe set in a technological cyberpunk grimdark future means that the possibility of making a drug with unseen disastrous effects is very much possible, and the imperial assassins take the credit for being a bunch of drug addicted killing machines.

Cocaine is probably the most well known drug on /tg/ thanks to Doomrider and Snowflame.

Drugs in 40k

Warp Infused Drugs

• Spook originates in Necromunda, the exact type of substance it is derived from being inconsistent, perhaps because the Orlocks don't want you to know —ranging from decayed corpse starch to a fungus growing deep in the Underhive. It is highly illegal and highly dangerous due to its connection with the warp, propensity to invite uninvited guests, and how it can either heighten psychedelic abilities or turn one into a thingamajig. It is nonetheless popular, however, both as a recreational drug and a tool for upping a wyrd's powerlevel, throughout all levels of Necromundan society and in the wider galaxy

• There are a number of other warp-infused drugs going around, including flects (literal pieces of mirror which have reflected Chaos from within the Eye of Terror), which play a key plot point in the Ravenor books while the titular inquisitor is running around playing Inquisitorial DEA agent for a while, and the similar but distinct and seemingly milder gladstones.

• Icrotic slime is another Necromundan narcotic drug which is apparently actually some sort of blob that you put on your head containing a brain eating amoeba that beyond some point of no return will basically reduce you into a zombie, and you'll be too blissed out to unplug. Grimdark. Better bring a friend to remove the gelatinous blob from your head in time. Apparently up in the Spire there are drugs that can counteract this and let the uphivers go sliming without the risk. Whether this actually has to do directly with chaos is left unsaid but it probably does.

Combat Drugs

• The ones used by Eversor assassins: The reasons why they wreck shit so much. They consume some sort of special cocktail of combat enhancement drugs and ALL THE ADRENALINE/COKE that allows them go WRYYYYYY and shit on everyone nearby. But these drugs can be used only by Eversor assassins, who have had their immune systems enhanced to the point that they can handle the toxicity of the combat drug. Also has the nice side effect of making the assassin's corpse explode upon death.

• Polymorphine: Used by Callidus assassins. Note that it's POLYMORPH-ine, not poly-MORPHINE. This drug allows the user to alter their body shape and appearance, allowing them to impersonate other persons, members of the opposite sex, and even humanoid xenos like Orks and Eldar. That's why it is so easy to troll Macha. Sometimes also given out by morally ambiguous types to make infiltrators minus the superhuman assassin part. Cheaper and effective, but less flexibility. In the Inquisitor novel written by Ian Watson, a Callidus assassin named Meh'Lindi can only transform into genestealers due to an experiment, meaning the drug's effectiveness may depend on the person that uses it. It also apparently has a very distinctive odour from prolonged use, which makes long term infiltrations difficult for the assassin without taking measures to disguise the smell.

• The Chirurgeon: Used by that Fabulous Bill after learning the trade from the sickest of fucks. It is a part-sorcerous and part-technological device that acts like an unholy mix of a life-support device crossed with a set of surgeon's tools, constantly patching Mr. Fabulous' failing body up. The device is charged with warp energy and Fabius can use it on persons other than himself if he wants. Naturally, it has the typical consequences of jamming warp-based shit into your bloodstream. In a rather WAT move, it turns out the original Chirurgeon became partly sentient, was able to reproduce, and its many offspring serve each Bile Clone as ably as the original.

• Commorite Stimm-Rack: Another variant of chirurgeon. Sick ass slurpy drug chemical rack things that comes in three different flavors. One of Lucius's prized possessions after winning the contest of sickfuckery in the Dark Eldar arena and installed by the fabulous one himself.
  • Laemon Green (Bylestim): Green blood of some lesser daemon with some wraithbone dust to go with it. Yummy!
  • Tyranberry Red (Tyrphous): Fucking Tyranid blood. Harvested from their adrenal glands.
  • Wych Cola (Serpentin): Drained from the blood of the Dark Eldar wyches, who do so much drugs, their blood can be considered a type of it.

• Combat Drugs: Used by the Emperor's Children and the Dark Eldar, particularly Wyches, to liven up the combat. Like all things associated with Chaos and Dark Eldar, can have a variety of useful effects, or go hilariously wrong.

Common Drugs

• Alcohol beverages: Despite the coming of the Grimdark future, alcohol remains popular and widespread among humanity. Unlike foods which are now mostly processed spam mixed with xeno flesh, alcohol remains the same and comes with even more variants from different planet culture to another, even among xenos. Some can be very strong, so strong only the astartes, some xenos or other abhumans can drink it.
  • Amasec: A type of good ol' fashioned distilled booze. Ranges in quality from really good stuff that is favored by Guard and Naval Officers, the more flamboyant Inquisitors, Rogue Traders, nobles and the like, to cheap stuff good only for killing brain cells and degreasing engines (usually called Rotgut). Usually implied to take the social position whisky or maybe brandy do in our day to day, or occasionally more exotic liquors like arrack (which can mean different things in different parts of the Orient, e.g. in Sri Lanka or Persia.) Definitely hard liquor though, and fairly ubiquitous.
  • Real rotgut: hope that the ethanol to promethium ratio is in your favor. The worst of the worst, distilled on a small scale and often with plenty of impurities, found in declasse establishments and holes in the wall in the underhives of Necromunda and similar, or improvised by Guardsman.
  • Tranq: See above, and then slap on a numbing sensation that would be welcome to only the weariest of guardsmen.
  • Dzira: a particularly strong alcoholic brew from Medusa, per Knights-Errant Iron Priest, Ares Voitek, it’s a brew handed out by Medusan Clan Chiefs to mend bridges between brethren who have recent bad blood between them. It can also be synthesized with any spare ethanol based liquids such as Space craft maintenance fluids, and tasted just as bitterly strong. When handed out to the Knights-Errants with Rogal Dorn, it was strong enough to make Dorn twitch an eyebrow while all but the Space Wolves and White Scar members coughed while downing a shot. It was also impressive enough that Bror Tyrfingr of the Space Wolves was motivated to brew a stronger batch to make sure the Space Wolves weren’t seen as sissies next to the Iron Hands. Is notably absent from the Chapter culture after the Heresy, possibly due to their rather OTT stance on mortal frailty and / or anything vaguely fun or with flavour.
  • Fenrisian Ale (Mjød): A type of alcohol beverage from Fenris that is soooooo toxic it can even intoxicate an Astartes. Still does not stop the frigging Space Wolves from having drinking contests with it. Although the Astartes are unable to get drunk from any alcohol beverages of the Imperium due to their implanted kidney gene seeds, they can from this ale due to a very special toxin from a Fenrisian plant life that temporarily neutralises the Kidney implant of an Astartes. When Space Wolves offer other non-Space Wolf chapters their drink, they have to make sure to add some anti-toxin to the mix in order to not kill their less manly cousins +++LION FOR LIFE DOG FUCKERS!!!+++ Understandably, a mortal drinking a few drops gets some major street cred, mostly because anyone who can drink that and not die has a seriously tough constitution.
  • Sacra: Tanith derived alcoholic drink, understandably rare since the planet got wiped. Inferred to be rough homebrewed spirit, probably similar to Poitín, given the Gaelic influences on the Tanith, although they traditionally served it warm.
  • Fungus beer: Orky beer. Nothing more, nothing less. Usually brewed by enterprising gretchin to sell to their masters. Whether it works on humans or is even actually beer in the sense of being a brewed alcoholic beverage (as opposed to something uniquely orky) isn't totally clear. Note that since it's a fungus and so are orks, and orks are innately psychic, there may be sort of a spook like dynamic going on there, too.
  • Lacrimosa: Mentioned in the Angel Exterminatus novel. Said to be an exquisite wine bled by the Emperor's Children, brewed from the tears of slaves. With just one sip, the user could experience the suffering of a thousand mortals, and taste its flavor filled with pain and pleasure. It also has erotic and repugnant aromas. Those Slaaneshii sick fucks...
  • Rahzvod: Space vodka made for the Vostroyan Firstborn. It is a common distribution among their ration and its use during deployment is ubiquitous enough that even Commissars don't bat an eye when it's drunk.
• Cigar: Why the fuck not? These candy sticks hanging in your mouth prove that you are the manliest of men in the grimdark future. By the 41st millennium, tobacco seems to have been one of the plants that died off when Terra went industrial, and has been replaced with tabac or lho leaves. However, it's only available to the high ranking offcers, the rich and beautiful, and officers with big hats. Cigars are often used for celebrating victory, but this fucker smokes one all the time because he knows you have already lost. Also used surprisingly by Orks, though they probably fill theirs out with an inferior product like squig droppings or fungus cuttings or something like that.
• Barrage: A super-roid combat drug that makes people as strong and tough as motherfucking Ogryns but wears off very quickly, leaving muscles and tendons torn to shreds by overexertion.
• Blue Fire: Spice. No, really: it gives you limited future-sight and a boost to mental capabilities but turns your eyes blue. The only difference is that it's inhaled rather than ingested.
• Concoction of the Phoenician: A mysterious Emperor's Children's liquid drug that was filled inside a Laer skin pipes. Introduced in Angel Exterminatus, It allows the user to open up their perception, finding answers of questions they've never asked for.
• De-Tox: Not so much a drug as it is something to counteract them. Though it does halt any ongoing effects from drugs and poisons, it's also got some serious side-effects that can leave a person just as sick as the drugs they wanted to escape from.
• Frenzon: A highly addictive mixture of Stimm, Slaught, Spur, and a few others that makes people fearless and crazy in combat. Once you are hooked on frenzon, you become virtually uncontrollable unless you can get a fix; the only way to kick the habit is to take anti-addiction chems.
• Juvenat Drugs: Extend your lifespan. Available to the rich and beautiful and others in power, usually Guard generals, churchmen, and nobles. Heavily implied to be made of children. Also depicted as being part of various surgical procedures to achieve the same effect. Their effect isn't indefinite as the treatment's start having diminishing returns after a while, although life can easily enough (with enough money and, ugh, babies) be extended past two centuries with women so modified often being described as still being beautiful but noticeably having had "work done." More recent fluff has elabourated on how they're produced; they can either be made in medical labs, although this is expensive and time consuming. The other, seemingly more common, way is to procure the necessary cell cultures from live specimens. On Hive Worlds, this usually means kidnapping youths and then draining them painfully for years at a time. The latter method is obviously illegal but given the demand for juvenat drugs, many medicae will turn a blind eye to the supply.
  • Funnily enough, there were certain xenos like the Adarnians, that were used as the materials for something akin to Juvenat drugs during the Crusade and Heresy, and the Imperium even deemed them under their protectorate for the sake of easy access, but...well, they got exploited to extinction by a bunch of greedy old bastards if Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work by Guy Haley is anything to go by.
• Kalma: If you need to get a man stoned off his ass, this is your drug. Sometimes used by Astartes and the Mechanicum to keep unruly ship serfs in line.
• Lho-Stick: Future version cigarettes. Lho is implied to be a tobacco or marijuana analogue depending on how PG-rated the authors are. Also considered to be the smaller, lesser version of cigar, often smoked by measly soldiers who, despite standard issue balls of steel, are still bent over and railed by an uncaring colossal behemoth that only sends them to die somewhere and only seek some form of release. It makes up by being as addictive as nicotine, and depending on which regiment you're in, you either get shot or given more of this stuff. Go figure. There is at least one reference to lho being insufflated like snuff tobacco (in Legion by Dan Abnett, blink and you'll miss it), so at least in his works, it's tobacco, not pot.
• Mortis: Puts you into a coma with suspended animation for a while, during which you look like a corpse, and also gives you a near-death experience trip. Cults of Death use it in their initiation rites, and spies use it to feign death.
• Obscura: Drug introduced in Dan Abnett's works, which spread to become the number one illegal drug of the grimdark future. Either smoked or injected, Obscura causes a pleasant dream-like sensation, but after the high is over leaves the user depressed and wanting more. A clear analogue to opioids.
• Recaf: Grimdark era Coffee, or at least something caffeinated. Varies from fancy samovar brewed stuff served in thimble glasses to awful bivvie tin mugs served to the guard in the trenches with stimms poured on the top like a latte. It's unknown if they actually come from organic material like beans and leaves or is chemically reconstituted (the Mechanicum, it seems, prefer the latter method.) Most likely it is some sort of ersatz "coffee" (the Germans in WW2 had a number of substitutes made from various plants, beans, and nuts - acorn “coffee” is the most famous) with caffeine (or perhaps something a bit stronger) added chemically.
• Rose: Overclocks all your senses to 11, giving you eagles' sight, dog's sense of smell, ability to read engraved text with a touch, and other extreme sensory feats. Unfortunately it also heightens the sense of pain. Most popular as a recreational drug for bored aristocrats and a gateway to many Slaaneshi cults. If you mix it up with other drugs or sex (or both) you'd probably die from sensory overload-- though many Slaaneshi cultists consider it an acceptable price to pay.
• Satrophine: Distilled blood of that thing which shall not be named. A powerful combat drug that boosts speed, awareness and strength and dulls pain. As you may imagine, if you overdo it you can turn into a Chaos Spawn faster than oh shitglbrAMGUMDGHOUMWRRR!
• Slam: A gross combat drug made by grinding up the crystallized insides of man-sized insects, granting a remarkable boost to strength and reduced sensitivity to pain, but this drug causes permanent nerve damage in even tiny doses.
• Slaught: A combat drug made of a combination of amphetamines and adrenal glands. Those who use it are said to be "On-slaught" (and ready to "slaught-er"), which is a mildly clever word play. It makes people much more aware and faster, with the unfortunate side-effect of 'roid-rage. The Redeemer calls it "Sacred Libation And Unguent which Gives Heart to the Terrified".
• Spur: generic name given for various stimulants that boost the nervous system and muscle reaction speeds. The effects are notoriously short lived and wear off after a few minutes, making it unreliable to depend on as a combat drug unless your supply is massive.
• Stimm: Generic name for various combat drugs/painkillers for the 41st millennium. Always make sure your Power Armor has enough. Increases awareness and alertness while diminishing felt pain and possibly treating shock (like epinephrine/adrenaline) letting you go on fighting not conceding to your enemies that you're dead. There seem to be many kinds. Think the berserker pack from Doom. They're also used off the battlefield to keep people on their feet and working for long periods of time without sleep.
• Sweetmeats: A progenoid roasted in sight of the space marine it was torn out of (probably while he's dying). Aside from being the epitome of wastefulness, with progenoids being about the most expensive things in the Galaxy, it's said to be so delicious everything else tastes like ash for the rest of your life and also gives you ability to regrow lost limbs somehow.
• Sweep: Anti-addiction drug that is highly addictive itself, so it basically cures you from all other addictions by hooking you on itself. Its own effects are pretty much like heroin to the point it may actually be heroin under a new name in 40k.
• Topaz: A social narcotic in Varangantua.
• Yellodes: Also from Dan Abnett's works. A "mind expanding" drug (think psychedelics), sometimes used by heretics diving into the mindbending lore of the Warp to, like, understand, man. Probably grimdark Ecstasy to spook's grimdark LSD/shrooms.

Warp Dust

Hell-cocaine. But only Kaldor Draigo and Matt Ward sniff it, because THEY MAKE IT HAPPEN. This is probably why Draigo believes he could just burn down some nasty old man's garden or smash into the fortress of impossible. Warp Dust, not even once. Doomrider says you're a faggot.

The Companitas

The drug cartel of the 40k A cult of drug-using chaos heretics dedicated to Slaanesh. They used a drug that could induce a hysterical state in the user and could even bring the deceased back to life for short periods. Like all Slaanesh cult, they like to have fun by placing the corpses of the royal imperial citizen in rendering plants to burn the bodies to ash, then placed this ash in air-burst warheads and exploded them all over those cities on the world that remained loyal to the Imperium. Sadly, they were pwned by the Flesh Tearers.

Drugs Warhammer Fantasy

• Warpstone: crystallized magic of chaos. It is some kind of uranium like greenish glowing rock. When consumed, it replenish the user's magic power and replenish their vigor, with its side effect being mutation and the usual drug addiction. Unless you are a Skaven, undead, Demon, Vampire, Volkmar the Grim, chaos worshipper or experienced wizard, you do not want to eat or touch that shit since it can KILL YOU. Other than consumption however, they have other uses, especially in Skaven culture where they are used as some kind of machine power source, currency and magic artifact.
• Juesh Root: Originating in Nehekhara, it is some kind of plant's root and its similar to the real life Areca Nut in many ways, from its consumption method through chewing for its juice and the bad dental hygiene from using it, except Jeush completely darkens the user's teeth to the point they resemble black shards. Arkhan the Black was well known for chewing the damned stuff like a fiend before he joined Nagash and the drug's effect remained even when Arkhan was reanimated as a Lich. It is unknown if the drug survived at the hands of Araby settlers since Nagash's plague spell pretty much wiped out any arable land in Nehekhara.
• Black Lotus: Lotus, but black. Found in the Southland. It is often used as an anesthetic on Slaves to sap their willpower and prevent them revolting. It is also has its recreational uses, where it can be made into wine. Neferata in life drank a lot of the shit and woke herself up from its effects by injecting herself with a hornet's poison, since its venom cancelled out the Lotus's toxin. Its usage is also popular among other assassins in the old world, chiefly by Skaven Clan Eshin assassins as well as Naggaroth's Khainite assassins.
• Nagash's Elixir: Nagash created this elixir based on a Nehekharan pre-battle ritual, where the priests drain the blood of innocents and then have their blood consumed by the kings and their lieutenants. In his version however, he imbues his terrifying dark magic onto the innocents (which torments the said person) before draining their blood, like marinating meat before cooking it (or boiling a lobster, Halal, Ikizukuri, those sadistic cooking method, etc...). The elixir greatly improves the user's vigor, life span and youthfulness and allows the user to even regenerate from certain mortal wounds. The downside is that when its effect recede, the user will experience limping limbs from pain and tiredness. It's also addictive as hell, as it leaves the user with a hunger that couldn't be quenched by any food or drink aside from more elixir. While thirsting for more elixir, the user would be unable to emit anything but coldness from their body and their eyes would sink in as if they lack sleep, as well as be unable to walk under the sun because it burns them. It is said blood is best coming from younger person, especially young women or children. Because of course.
  • Neferata's Version (Vampirism): Neferata unknowingly discovered this version after her brother's Vizier tried to assassinate her with Sphinx venom. First the user must have developed a strong reliance on the elixir. Then they had to drink the Sphinx venom, which puts the user in a comatose state. Then a ritual must performed on the user in order to transform the user into something beyond death: a Vampire. After the user becomes a vampire, they will, you know, do vampire thing: always thirst for more blood unless they drink dragon blood. So in other words, blood is count as a type of drug for the vampire, except it could be blood from other species like the Dwarfs or Elves.
• Nokra-Leaf: Some sort of leaf used as medicine in Athel Loren according to our favorite elf Kerillian: "I'd rather some nokra-leaf, but this will do". Judging by the lack of information according to our beloved machine spirits Google and Warhammer wiki, it might be one of the few fluff items ever created and referenced in a Warhammer game.
• All kinds of Mushroom: Mostly consumed by the deranged Night Goblins (and their successors in the Mortal Realms, the Gloomspite Gitz). Their uses range from warfare and recreation to medical treatments. (keep in mind the Greenskins are fungal humanoids themselves).
  • Magic Mushrooms: Glows in the dark mushroom. Consume by Night Goblin Shamans to increase their magic power.
  • Mad Cap Mushrooms: Night Goblin Fanatics consume these bad boys to induce a state of frenzy before every battle.
• All kinds of Alcohols: It seems like alcohol is an essential part to every great setting's world building.
  • Dwarven Ale: The best kind of ale are brewed by the Dwarfs of course. Consuming this makes the drinker full for weeks without the needs to eat or drink anything to survive. Each Dwarf Hold has their own unique flavor which they took great pride in brewing them. Dwarfs are so prideful in their brew that they are willing to start a war against even other Dwarfs for insulting their brew, such as saying that their brew tastes like mannish brews (aka Human booze). The Ale is also potent enough to be used as a fuel source for the Dwarf's machinery, which is like real life Ethanol fuel.
    • Bugman's XXXXX: The greatest Dwarven Ale of all as well as being the most refreshing alcoholic beverage ever created. Consuming it makes the drinker immune to fear for up to ten hours. However, Bugman’s Ale is extremely potent, being about as filling as four lesser ales. Despite the destruction of the brewery, its creator, Josef Bugman, survives and so long as he lives, his famous ale can still be seen within many famous taverns throughout the world-- including a certain tavern in Nottingham.
  • Fungus Beer: Created and Consumed by the Night Goblins to not only make them insane, but also enhance their senses and flex in battle.
  • Kvas: A popular beverage in Kislev. You might think it is in fact fantasy's equivalent of Vodka, but is actually a reference to the real world Kvass, which it is also made with Rye. Unlike Kvass however, its fantasy counterpart has the ability to cure many disease like scurvy (during times of famine), colds, dropsy, fever, and many others. The beverage is so popular in Kislev that it is favor among all social hierarchy, including its rich nobles. The said notabilities unironically favors their piss water more than those weak southern beverages made by those pansies in the South.
  • Rotgut: A brew that grants unpredictable results to any that consumes them. Most often 50% of those that consume rotgut get the bad result of being permanently blind. The other 50% however gets to have the best time of their lives. The brew's distillation process is tricky as well as hard to replicate. Other side effects (alongside the aforementioned blindness) from the brew include comas and death. Despite that, it greatly improves the chances getting stinking drunk. Pretty good results.
  • Wine: Consumed by pretty much every race but the Dwarfs (A proper Dawi preferred a good ale! Dwarfs would still drink them, just not as much, or when there's no ales or beers around), mostly favored by Bretonnian and the Elves.
    • Bretonnian Wine: Unironically, The Warhammer French makes the best human wine in order to fit with their stereotype. Their comes from two source: Bordeleaux and Carcassonne. Bordeleaux is the largest export in wine, for its farm and vineyard can be seen anywhere in its land. Ironically, everyone (including PEASANTS. You heard that right!) lives in Bordeleaux can get a taste of it by paying just 1/3 of its price. Although Bordeleaux has the most wine, it is not the best, for that privilege goes to...
      • Carcassonne Special Reserve: The best damned Bretonnian wine and probably the best damn wine produced by Humans. It is sooooo good it cost 100 gold crowns. Despite its awesome reputation, some "experts" still disagree with it being the best. It's still very good though.
    • Elven Wine: The snobby pointy ears just called, and they laugh at those mon-keighs' attempt on wine making. Being a long lived race who strives for perfection with high class in attitude, dress, buildings and many other area, this seems fitting. Knowing the Elves, some might have magical enchantment in order to further improve its tasting or giving users hallucinations other than making them drunk or high.
      • Dreamwine: Introduced in Defenders of Ulthuan novel. It is a High Elf wine that shows the user hallucinations of beautiful images like sunset, beautiful exotic animals, beautiful gardens and other gay stuffs. Definitely magically enchanted. Also tastes unbearably sweet and smokey.
      • Blood Wine: Introduced in Defenders of Ulthuan novel. It is a Dark Elf wine that smells like blood, made from native Naggaroth grapes that smells like blood, yuck! Probably suited for Dark Elves who loves the taste for blood, which is probably most of its population.
• Potions: Fucktons of them. This is a fantasy setting so having potions brewed by Wizards and Witches should be a common sight.
  • Strength Potion: Notable because it was featured in Vermintide and the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game. Said to be made form the powdered arm-bone of a Giant and the simmering blood of a Bog spider. In Vermintide, it allows the user to bypass armor with a non-armor piercing weapon's regular attack with additional melee damage. In WFRP, it increase the S stats by 2 points.
• Cannibalism: Just like in real life, eating human flesh yields a forbidden addiction considered way too immoral even for fiction settings. To some twisted genius evil assholes, they believe human flesh or blood contains the secret to immortality or the ingredient to rejuvenating one's youth. They were right unfortunately and made numerous evil experiments on innocents to achieve that immortality (see Nagash's elixir above). Unlike vampires who needs to drink blood for the sake of replenishment, many human nobility like Sigvald practice it not for the sake of youthfulness, but delicacy, or perhaps they've unknowing discovered the youthfulness in its flavor and were addicted to it also? Some primitive tribal society eat human flesh for the sake of achieving power (or so Nagash had fed his bullshit to because he hates them and they are too dumb to believe it) and had achieved ghoulification after suffered its addiction. In short, eating human flesh is something only monsters do (aka Ogres, Skaven, most of the monster beasts from the disorder side, dinosaurs from Lustria), humans who eat human flesh or blood lose their humanity and are now addicted to its taste. Worst drug ever.
• Aetherquartz: Technically not a drug and from Age of Sigmar. But the Lumineth use it like Skaven use Warpstone. It enhances the mental and physical properties of the user but leaves a crippling depression after those effects wear off. The Lumineth get around this with Cathallars.

Drugs in Star Wars

In Star Wars, most drugs are known as spice. Alcohol, caffeine (though obtained from "caf" beans instead of coffee or tea) and tobacco (or an analogue for it: the only things to actually call the stuff in cigars and cigarettes "tobacco" are some really early books already notorious for not really fitting into the universe stylistically) exist, but they seem to not count as spice. During Republic and Imperial control most spice is illegal. This has created a large network of smugglers willing to supply the people. This network was further augmented by the Empire's high tariffs (to pay for its new standing army) on mundane goods allowing smuggling to be seen as heroic, even if they also smuggled drugs.

Star Wars D6, Star Wars D20 and Saga Edition assume drugs are largely background fluff or a plot device. Edge of the Empire on the other hand assumes the player characters will be drug dealers to some degree and just about every book included details on new spice. This involvement could be as small as looting drugs captured from enemies and selling them to criminal contacts or the entire campaign/adventure being about spice smuggling.

• Avabush Spice: Derived from the prickly Avabush plant that is common on Baros but virtually unheard of elsewhere. It causes relaxation, lethargy and truthfulness.
• Bacta: Not a spice, but absolutely a medicinal drug. This fluid made by the insectoid Vratix is basically healing magic in space. Can cure anything from physical wounds to disease given sufficient amounts of it. No indication has been made of a bacta addiction being a thing. Bacta is relatively new to the galaxy, only being discovered ~4100 years before the Battle of Yavin and post-dating the Republic (founded 25,053 years before the battle of Yavin). It was preceeded by Kolto, which was made from deep sea seaweed found only on the planet Manaan. Kolto's artificially high prices from monopolistic control backfired when the more effective and cheaper bacta became known. It faded from galactic memory and could only keep a small marketshare as a weaker, cheaper substitute or for those poor bastards with allergies to bacta who also can't afford gene therapy.
• Booster Blue: Huffing this starship paint (it actually is paint, or at least a component of it) leads to enhanced agility and thinking, but causes high strain on the body.
• Death Sticks: The only type of spice actually mentioned by name in the films. Ground alien mushroom suspended in liquid. Mildly hallucino­genic but has severe health detriments. Unusually Death Sticks are not illegal on most planets, merely restricted, paralleling tobacco. Not that you'd want any Death Sticks. Instead you want to go home and rethink your life.
• Glitterstim: "Mined" in the prison mines of Kessel. It's actually the ground up webs of alien spiders. Allegedly gives telepathy. Since it provably increases sensitivity it is frequently combined with other spice. Most Glitterstim goes through official channels to be used in legitimate medical drugs. The Kessel Run instead focuses on smuggling it out of Kessel through an un-patrolled but hazardous back door full of black holes. Completing the Kessel Run requires a fast ship to avoid being pulled into a black hole, with really fast ships able to get closer to the black holes without dying horribly (this is why Han Solo's completion is measured in a unit of distance. Even though the script and Obi-Wan's reaction show Han is just trying to bullshit the farmboy this has become accepted Star Wars lore because retcons are a thing.). During the New Republic the mines are openly run by paid volunteers. The fact that such prominent figures as Nien Nunb, Lando and Mara Jade are involved in running it suggests the New Republic has a much friendlier drug policy that its predecessor, likely because the Alliance depended so heavily on smugglers. The pre-Ruusan Old Republic could be either way, the Post-Ruusan Reformation Old Republic was probably restrictive and the Galactic Empire likely continued this, what with smuggling Glitterstim having been a point of major competition at the latest by 0BBY.
• Lesai: Derived from a fungus that grows on lizards native to the Zebitrope system. Is temporarily removes the need to sleep, but causes high dependency.
• Ryll: Actually mined on Ryloth, the home planet of the Twi'lek. It causes hallucinations and memory loss. The fact that it's the only non-slave export for the planet kept anti-drug crusaders away from it till the Imperial era, which banned it. The New Republic combined it with Bacta to create a cure for the horrific Krytos Virus.
• Yarrock: Berserker... something grown by old Zabrak Shamans. What it actually is was never detailed. Quite rare off its home planet.

Drugs in other Sci-Fi and Fantasy

• The Spice Melange (Dune): basically a dusty orange byproduct from a Sandworms’ metabolism. It enables people to see the future, warp space for FTL travel, lengthen their lifespans, reincarnate as clones with their memories intact (after a brutal bout of mental trauma), and enhance their senses. Due to being restricted to the planet Dune initially, a single case of it was worth an entire planet. After being synthesized, it became a bit cheaper but still essential for intergalactic culture.
• Chems (Fallout): Chems are post apocalyptic drugs, they are called Chems because the governments around the world considered child slave trafficking, cannibalism, torture and blowing people up into chunky salsa to be all right but calling the shit you pump into your veins drugs was a bit on the edgy side for them. Said Chems come in many different flavours for every situation imaginable:
  • Ant Nector: Discount Buffout but worse in every way, this is one of the few chems you will throw away if you cant sell it.
  • Fire Ant Nector: A far superior version that increases your agility and fire resistance, but you will end up too dumb to use it properly.
  • Buffout: You're bad at managing your inventory if you need to pop these, you are also in need of a health boost during most fights.
  • Buff-tats: You miss clicked when trying to make something else.
  • Coyote tobacco chew: You want to roleplay as a cowboy.
  • Daddy-O: You think this will be useful so you hang onto it for a special occasion, then 52 levels later you remember you had it and trade it for some spare ammo.
  • Day Tripper: You are trying to get lucky in more ways than one.
  • Hydra: You found this in a metal box somewhere and hang onto it, just in case you run out of doctors bags, stimpacks or access to an actual doctor. Towards the endgame you decide to use it to fix a broken toe and immediately get addicted.
  • Jet: Literal meth, if you are using this pre-fallout 4 then you spend way too much time mucking about with the V.A.T.S system and if you use it for every game onwards you like pretending you can dodge bullets.
    • Dixons Jet: Meth watered down with liquid shit
    • Turbo: Future jet! As in fallout 4 style jet in New Vegas.
    • Jet Fuel: You made two discoveries when finding this in the crafting menu 1) You've finally have a use for all that dogshit flamer fuel you've been hording and 2) you get to use Jet the old fashioned way (abusing V.A.T.S)
    • Rocket: Jet but better, that's it.
    • Ultra Jet: Also Jet but better, that's it.
  • Med-Ex: Basically morphine, you will be pumping this stuff into your veins before entering a difficult firefight.
  • Mentats: You are struggling to hack into a terminal and you are just a few xp points away from getting the skill naturally, when it finally comes time to level said skill up, you instantly forget your previous struggle and proceed to spend them on something else.
    • Berry Mentants: Increase your intelligence way higher than before and make Daddy-O completely redundant
    • Grape Mentants: You are trying to win an argument, seduce a follower and/or get better prices from a vendor; where you will most likely be buying more ingredients to make more Grape Mentants
    • Orange Mentants: You are a sniper or a very desperate gunslinger, either way you will be eating a lot of these.
    • Party Time Mentants: You don't exactly know what's ahead, but your brain in going to be working at 200 percent capacity no matter what task lies ahead.
  • Psycho: It's time to kill everything in your way, while screaming and frothing at the mouth.
    • Psycho-buff and Slasher: Rip and tear 2.0, gives a nice health and strength boost along with it, Slasher instead gives a damage resistance boost.
    • Psycho-Tats: For sniping damage, that's it.
  • Steady: You want to shoot someone from thousands of metres away but want it to be a perfect V.A.T.S headshot
  • X-Cell: You will never use this drug despite it being so good for everything because you will never be in a situation where you'll need to have all your stats increased at once.

IRL drugs

• Injection-molded plastic: (Addiction Rating: High, Fort DC: ?) For the Emperor! / WAAAGH! A potent substance that is by itself pretty worthless. But by applying the creative power of the human mind, this stuff can convince people with imaginative talents, that they are indeed capable of fighting monsters or commanding armies. In response the nucleus accumbens is flushed with dopamine and activates the hippocampus and the limbic system for an emotional response that is pure satisfaction (and the memory to come back and get more later). Most people consume this substance with self-restraint in a moderate amount on a daily basis. Occasionally rare but severe cases of sociophobia, reality loss, concentration disorder, impulssive consuming behavior and neglect of daily routine have been reported as a result of excessive indulgance. Some opportunistic companies prey on people with symptoms injection-molded plastic induces to make tons of profit. Once down this dark path, rehabilitation is difficult to achieve, since the patient has already committed too much money and time to this cause to simply stop, which is just as planned.

• Marijuana: (Addiction Rating: Low, Fort DC: 4) Because I got high, because I got high, because I got high... Probably the most well known and widely used drug worldwide, with quite a bit of controversy as to whether or not it's socially acceptable to use Chances are there is either someone in your gaming group that smokes it regularly or your gaming group smokes it together regularly (or ingests it for non-smokers, works too). (It’s not great for kids or embryos though, as it will totally fuck up development for juvenile brains, much like booze.)

Ever wonder why all the best music and movies come from the 70's and 80's? And why so many bafflingly awful projects got made in that same era?

• Cocaine: (Addiction Rating: Medium , Fort DC: 10) I DO COCAINE!!! C-C-C-YEAH!!!!1!!! Originally used by Colombian natives who chewed the leaves of the coca plant (similar to the khat leaf in the Middle East and Africa or the betel berry in Asia). Your friendly neighborhood drug dealer probably sells the freebase "crack" cocaine, which is a cocaine compound that contains baking soda, sugar, salt, sand, ground glass, and whatever else he can use to bulk out his supply and sell you less for more. The good stuff hits like ecstasy, ritalin, and ten cups of coffee, making it a favorite of celebrities and bigwigs who need to go from barely functional to full throttle in about fifteen seconds. Snowflame's weapon of choice._{Seriously, dude, a lot of cocaine.}

• Meth: (Addiction Rating: High, Fort DC: 10; when making roll d20, on 20 user and all creatures within 20' radius must make a dexterity save or take 8d6 fire damage) You got this meth from "some dude" wearing khaki pants, who – you're 80% sure – had a mustache. And that's it? That's your brain working at full capacity? The cheaper rustbelt equivalent of cocaine with worse long term side effects. Has a social hierarchy with regards to consumption; vanilla users snort, experienced users inject, hardcore users eat that shit. Often called “white crack” by American cops as it’s used mostly by white people (where as crack cocaine is more popular amongst black folks). Can be produced by a number of chemical reaction using various medications and common household items, although the fumes are frequently explosive. If an apartment or trailer in the poor part of town spontaneously explodes, odds are good they were cooking meth. It also decays your teeth and gums, this condition coming to be known as "meth mouth" (hope you didn't enjoy eating solid food or kissing). Fun fact, if you’re into meth (please don’t be), you should try drinking your own piss - your body can’t process meth like it does other drugs so you’re just pissing away perfectly reusable meth urine that will get you just as (if not more) fucked up as regular meth (jokes aside, please don't do this). Alternatives in the amphetamine family include Captagon in the Middle East.

• Bath Salts: (Addiction Rating: varies, Fort DC: 14) BRAINS!!! BRAINS!!! Although quite memey, it isn't an actual drug itself, but rather a group of '"Designer Drugs"' which are substances chemically close to illegal ones and can give the user a similar high. To avoid any legal action, they are hidden in "non-consumable" items, like actual bath salts, candles, and soaps. Typically substituted cathinones (ultimately derived from amphetamine-like ketones found in an African shrub.) The same game goes on with so called "synthetic marijuana," marketed as "Spife" or "K2" or various "incenses" (which smell awful and distinctively chemical) which are just psychoactively inert plant matter laced with a vast variety of synthetic cannabinoids. These chemicals are generally found by scouring medical and pharmaceutical journals for failed drug candidates. Some are relatively benign, some horribly dangerous, and when buying "bath salts" or "incense" you almost never know what you're going to get or how potent it will be, even with the same brand. It’s meth for people who have long since given away their last fuck.

• Opiates: (Addiction Rating: High, Fort DC: 6) Cause it makes me feel like a man when I put a spike in my vein The dried latex harvested from the opium poppy is one of the oldest drugs known in human history. Morphine is the principal psychoactive component of opium, which has legitimate medicinal uses but most developed nations heavily regulate it. It can be further refined into diacetylmorphine, better known as heroin. More recently has expanded into a wide variety of highly addictive pain medications. The blissful high these produce is exactly what leads people to start making shit like Krokodil (don’t do Krokodil - pieces of your body will start falling off, google it…on an empty stomach). Good old opiates are so powerful they once provoked a literal drug war; as in two countries' governments - Britain and China - actually went to war against each other to control the trade in the 19th century. Another variety is fentanyl; an opiate that can be synthesized with a bunch of commercially available precursor chemicals overseas.

• Psychedelics: (Addiction Rating: Negligible to Low, Fort DC: ?) Picture yourself in a boat on a river, with tangerine trees and marmalade skies... Mind altering substances that produce hallucinations. Most famous for LSD, or acid, which increases color saturation and induces visual hallucinations like perceived movement of still objects and seeing nonexistent patterns. Also includes a variety of hallucinogenic mushrooms which have been used both religiously and recreationally by various cultures around the world for thousands of years. Although some effects may be similar in high dosages, over the counter medications like Dramamine, Benadryl, and DayQuil are not psychedelics. AKA IRL spook. You also tend to get super suggestible when on hallucinogens, so be in a good, safe space, around decent folk in a chill atmosphere, unless of course you want to fall into a pit of gnashing teeth or WORSE.

• Deliriants: (Addiction Rating: Negligible to Low, Fort DC: ?) Spiderrsssssss, A giant legion of Spiderrrrrsssss Deliriants are hallucinogenic drugs, but unlike Psychedelics which fuck around with your perception of reality as a whole, Deliriants instead decide to have ultra realistic hallucinations occasionally pop in and out of reality like a drug induced version of self gaslighting. It can range from attempting to drink a glass of water that was never there to having a chat with your best friend only to find out you've been muttering gibberish into a brick wall for the last 30 minutes. The experience is rarely ever pleasant and the accompanying paranoia means its usually a one time experience for most.

• Caffeine: (Addiction Rating: Mild, Fort DC: 3-7) Coffee coffee coffee. Coffee! It's not as strong as methamphetamine, but it lets you keep your teeth. Mild stimulant, probably the most common such in the world in the form of tea, coffee, and foul tasting energy drinks.

• Mountain Dew: (Addiction Rating: Negligible, Fort DC: 4) Pepsi has a new Doritos-flavored Mountain Dew. No, we don't have an Ebola vaccine, but we do have the Doritos-flavored Mountain Dew, USA! USA! Bankruptcy from healthcare!. A soda drink made by hillbillies who thought Coca Cola was too Jewish, known for its high caffeine and sugar. It should be consumed with Doritos in the name of pope Geoff Keighley. Side effects may include tooth decay, acid-reflux, racism and insomnia. Interestingly invented and initially marketed as a mixer for hard drinks, see below.

• Alcohol: (Addiction Rating: Medium , Fort DC: 6). I am not an Alcoholic I am a drunk, Alcoholics go to meetings. There is much debate whether or not Alcohol is considered to be a drug or if it is considered to be a Food and Drink [1]. The Germans (who know a thing or two about beer) think it’s food, and tax it as such, hence why beer is cheaper than bottled water there. Humans and many other mammals can readily metabolize it, and ruminants (cows, sheep, goats, deer, etc) ferment it naturally as an intermediate digestion product. When it is used in moderation it can be fun but when it is used in extreme it has some of effects to that of a drug (such as organ damage). Consuming enough of this substance tends to result in a loss of inhibition, causing people to do stuff they're normally too shy or smart to do, and puke a whole bunch. Depending on the person, this drunken behavior can range from silly, to depressed, to mean. The last, and probably most important, thing to note about alcohol is not its effects, but what happens when they wear off after having drunk too much: a massive headache similar to a migraine known to many as a "hangover", which is best combatted with a big greasy, carb loaded meal, such as a Full English Breakfast, or more alcohol in the form of a “hair of the dog” like a Bloody Mary.

• Microtransactions: (Addiction Rating: High , Will DC: 2) When you charge money for something you can produce infinitely at zero cost, like in-game currency, that is not a service. That is the fucking death of economics as a concept. Also known as loot boxes. A horribly addictive drug sold through video games as a cheap way to maximize the game's profit without having to add worthwhile content. It has gotten so bad that many countries have considered banning it. People who spend huge amounts of money of microtransactions are called whales.

Drug Addiction

The effects of drug addiction and a list of additional drugs can be found in the Book of Vile Darkness [2] Also watch (or read) the semi-autobiographical Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, by Hunter S. Thompson, an incredible wordsmith with a hearty penchant for all of the drugs. With regards to the drugs featured on this page, his daily breakfasts famously included (among enough food to feed a family) a pot of coffee, four Bloody Marys, two margaritas, and “six lines of the best cocaine for dessert”.

Gallery

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  Order your warp dust now, and get mindfucked for free!

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  Warp Dust is GOOOOOOOD.

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  Slaanesh cults' own equivalent of the Butcher's Nails.

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  Normally, we would go to rehabilitation centre if we have drug addiction. In the Grimdark future, however, only the commissar can cure your addiction.

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  Lucius's awesome slurpy-machine. Do not steal! As you can see from the fluff text this is some hard core shit even Mick Jagger would look probably askance at.

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  Leave it to the Imperium to turn an expired drug into an energy drink.

See Also

• Assassin
• Slaanesh
• Doomrider
• Fabius Bile
• Potion