"What I smuggle most? T-Breaks. Tolerance Resetters. You know those little candy bars you see people eat, right before they run off laughin' or screamin' or whatever? Those are T-Breaks. I'm tellin' ya man, they put shit in everythin'. Keeps us chuggin' along on autopilot rather than uppin' sticks and sayin' fuck it".
- Sneaky Dave, local smuggler
Drugs are an integral part of maintaining the relative cohesion of the tightly packed and privacy-deprived megacities, and are both sold in chemically pure forms or added as ingredients to the many sugary sweets and drinks that megacity citizenry rely on to power through long work hours. Most of these drugs are purpose-built to keep users giggly and contented, albeit foggy minded, to make their dire working conditions more palatable and stop employees from doing anti-productive things like demanding time off or forming unions.
Psychedelics and mind-openers, however, are strictly prohibited, and are one of the few things Corpo-Cops viciously police the distribution and sale of. As a result, they're incredibly popular among the lower levels, and almost every bakery and tea house has an off-menu selection for those that wish to explore their own consciousness. Saraswati Virtue is the primary exporter of psychedelic drugs, entirely through a corporate-backed smuggling ring, as an attempt to turn the citizenry of other territories against their corporate overlords.
Alcohol is largely of the sugary sweet and fruity variety, as the agriculture required to make beer is usually not worth the terraforming of the tropical and desert-like environment, and is seen as a lavish product for the upper levels. Synthetic vodka, however, is easy and affordable to produce, and as a result every citizen of the megacities has their own personal cocktail preferences. For those that choose to avoid the 24 hour nightclub scene, alcoholic drinks are found in every vending machine.
Steroids and performance enhancers are encouraged in manual labour and blue collar work environments, and practically mandatory in sporting events such as the Pit Fights and Sexlympics. Thankfully, alternate premium, methods of stamina enhancement are also found in the various stem-vat clinics around town, offering stronger, bulkier muscles and sex organs to those that can afford the price and the time to spend floating in pink goo for an afternoon.
Opiates are - somewhat surprisingly - considered a social drug, with smoking lounges and dens being a popular after-dinner venue to meet friends and melt into soft couches and bean bags until their next shift. Their ability to take the edge off a stressful day is a huge part of their popularity.
Fortunately, with drugs so rife throughout the cities, corporations do offer addiction inhibitors -known as Buzzkillers- to those under their employment, to avoid potential loss of revenue from things like stolen inventory or employee death. These Buzzkillers take the form of a simple neural scrub, distributed either through a nasal inhaler or as a dissolving chip at the base of the neck. These are cheap, easily affordable and keep employees healthy - and more importantly - receptive to the assault of drugs on their systems. For those without corporate employment however, these addiction inhibitors are a valuable commodity, and a lot of lower level gangland activity is fuelled by the ability to sell Buzzkillers and T-Breaks to the rebelliously inclined.
Tolerance Resetters, known as T-Breaks, are another drug that is strictly prohibited by corporate higher-ups, as they snap the consumer out of the foggy mindset that corporations like to keep them in. A very large number of recently unemployed adventurers, gangers and freelancers attribute their sudden career change to a T-Break.
Of course, due to the ever-present corporate infighting, certain designer drugs are manufactured to counter other brands of drugs, specifically between competing CEOs and companies. This means certain combinations of food and drink nullify the effects of each other, meaning the employee ends up entirely sober and usually depressed and angry at the current state of the world. This is surprisingly common, and practically invalidates the entire drug spiking mess corporations are so intent on doing. These people, such as Rosie, don't need a T-Break to snap out of any induced haze, and look for any excuse to leave the corporate world and their dead-end job.
Out and away from the megacities, drugs often take a more utilitarian form. Offerings like the Nicoffeine cigarettes are a favourite among ranchers, rustlers and bandits, as the pleasing combination of nicotine and caffeine keeps them calm, yet alert, for any potential dangers found out in the desert. Unlike those in the relative safety of the megacities, rural citizens have to keep watch for bandit, kaiju or mutant activity, and are relatively sober in comparison to megacity dwellers.
Many rural travellers are encouraged to pack a lunch when visiting a megacity, as food away from urban areas is often untainted by the machinations of corporate schemers. That doesn't stop megacity food delivery services like On-Scene Cuisine from delivering to the far-reaches of civilisation, usually on a moped and by a hardened delivery veteran.
Still, neat booze and spiked sarsaparilla are mainstays of outpost saloons, and sake is the drink of choice for onsen towns. Fruity cordials and mixers are often provided by dedicated merchants, their relative low value keeping them safe from raiders and bandits.
While drugs aren't as prevalent on the outskirts as they are in the megacities, for those that absolutely have to alter their state of consciousness, moonshine distilleries are tucked away at the edges of ranches and farms, and Scratch cooks - ramshackle labs designed to combine and enhance stolen pharmaceuticals - are dotted around the landscape, usually in bandit compounds and Atlus walkers. Scratch is - by far - the most dangerous drug on the market, not only for its slapdash approach to production, but that T-Breaks and Buzzkillers are usually very far out of reach from where its made and its users.