Add a drug that can cure Addiction

[RelentlessGarbage]

Hey all. This has been proposed before, but I think it's worth requesting again, given that people generally dislike that the only way to treat addictions is to sit in a sleeper for a couple of minutes twiddling your thumbs.


Here's a specific proposal I'd like to give: a new chem called Corticoelavin. It's a fictional (magical) protein complex that adsorbs drugs in your bloodstream while weaning your brain off of being dependent on them. However, it also messes with your brain by interfering with its normal signalling processes, making you drowsy while it's active. In high enough doses, it can be quite debilitating.

It'd be synthesized as follows: Mannitol (1) + Neurotoxin (1) + Denatured Enzyme (1) + Lithium (2) + Chlorine (1) = Corticoelavin (1) + Chlorine (1)

Given that the ingredients make it a bit of a pain to synthesize, it'd have a very slow depletion rate (0.1 units per life cycle), with low doses being effective. It'd have the following effects per life cycle:
> Increases the depletion rates of a variety of stimulant drugs by 5. This list of drugs is the same as that of Haloperidol.
> Blocks the effects of Stimulants, Madness Toxin, and the Space madness and Berserker infections. Does not cure the diseases or directly deplete the chemicals that cause them.
> Heals -1 brain damage. 50% to heal an additional -1.
> 50% chance to revert a single addiction in a person by one stage - i.e. a Stage 3 Morphine addiction becomes a Stage 2 Morphine addiction. If this is done to an addiction at Stage 1, the addiction is cured. Since this targets a person's addictions at random, someone with several addictions will need a larger dose to be fully cured of any one of them.
> -2 Stamina Regeneration.
> 10% of inflicting 10 seconds of either Drowsiness or Weakness.
> Slightly reduces movement speed.

For a potential overdose effect, at over 20 units you'd also get the following effects per life cycle:
> Quadruples the chem's depletion rate (0.4 units per cycle).
> An additional -3 Stamina Regeneration.
> 10% chance of receiving a short stun (2 seconds). If you're already stunned, 75% to go unconscious (10 seconds). Note that unconsciousness can be triggered by any kind of stun.
> 25% chance of +2 OXY and +1 LOSEBREATH. 
> Inability to swallow anything, both pills, food, and drink - any attempt will cause you to cough out whatever you tried to put in with a 50% chance of converting the item to ???, as well as dealing +5 OXY. This includes things other people try to force-feed you.
> Blurred vision and confused movement.
> 5% chance to drop any held items.
> Any attempt to speak comes out as garbled whispers.

I'd suggest putting two 40u bottles of the stuff in Medbay by default in the restricted medication locker, and give one or two bottles to Security to help rehab the crimers stuck in the brig. Chemistry can make more with the help of Botany - in fact, botanists can make this on their own if they break into bar.

Why is this needed? As stated, people generally complain about the only way of curing addiction being via sleepers. And because of how addiction works (where nearly all addictive drugs have the same severity of relapse), all types of addiction can be fairly penalizing. This chem would allow for patients to still be ambulant and do non-strenuous work while curing their addictions at the cost of being sort of slow and vulnerable, albeit not as vulnerable as being in withdrawal and for not as long. Additionally, anyone that delivers an overdose to someone can seriously debilitate them, but overdose on its own can't really kill someone, and would be inferior to other dedicated knockout chems.

[Lord_earthfire]

Personally, i think asdictions should get a redesign in general. But that is a big project, so we can probably apply some bandaids on it.

The only feeling i have against this this chem is the blocking of stimulants and having two bottles of it in medbay on round start. Medbay is already overloaded with chemicals that could normally be sourced from somewhere else. And stimulants already suffer hard from haloperidol and this is an even harder counter.

[RelentlessGarbage]

The only feeling i have against this this chem is the blocking of stimulants and having two bottles of it in medbay on round start.  Medbay is already overloaded with chemicals that could normally be sourced from somewhere else. And stimulants already suffer hard from haloperidol and this is an even harder counter.

That's fair - the amount available can be reduced. I just figured having two would be good in service of allowing Medbay to freely dispense it to crewmembers that came by to have their addictions cured, rather than hoarding it to try and save it for dealing with any crazed lunatics that show up. Given that 5u per patient would probably be more than enough to cure single addictions, though, having one bottle might be enough.

As for stimulants, the effect could be tweaked to simply reduce the duration of the effect, to be more in line with other drugs that do the same, such as Morphine, Sulfonal, Ether, and Haloperidol, although I feel that outright blocking certain psychosis effects should stay. (This drug also doesn't have the benefit of coming pre-packaged into sec's tranquilizer darts for easy delivery, I guess.)

[Kotlol]

If anything.. Medbay should have only chems at the ready to treat anyone with heavy life threatening things that are common.

So charcoal, Stypic, Silver, Mannitol, Mutadone are the most used.
Some other chems should only be in the chemical area of medbay aka Pharmacy at the hand, but things like this suggestions (Wich I like)
Should be moved to "You gotta make it order it"

Some chem combo's should just be that... used for more niche things. Despite addictions and food poisoning being very common. They aren't something medbay immidently has to cure to save someone's life. If anything, they can be lazy and say "Take a nap" or "Brew the antidote for a cost, cause your insurance doesn't cover it"

I think that will help a lot to make medbay more willing to try chems or contact chemistry.

[Frank_Stein]

Discount Dan's Mint flavored Methadone

[Mouse]

Discount Dan's Mint flavored Methadone

METHadone

[RelentlessGarbage]

If anything.. Medbay should have only chems at the ready to treat anyone with heavy life threatening things that are common.

Some chem combo's should just be that... used for more niche things. Despite addictions and food poisoning being very common. They aren't something medbay immidently has to cure to save someone's life. If anything, they can be lazy and say "Take a nap" or "Brew the antidote for a cost, cause your insurance doesn't cover it"

Discount Dan's Mint flavored Methadone

I was actually considering proposing either Methadone or Buprenorphine get added, but I decided against it because both are only effective at treating opioid addiction, and most of the addictive chems in-game are not opiates. (I know SS13 isn't the most realistic game ever, but I would've been bothered by methadone curing nicotine addiction.)

Still, adding a vending machine product that would allow for certain basic addictions be cured (a la Orange-Aid for healing eye damage or Lime-Aid for purging alcohol) could be an interesting solution. I'd suggest that such an accessible option would only do a passable job at curing addiction, though, and would be unable to cure addictions to heavier stimulants like Meth or Nicotwaine. But if you had an addiction to Nicotine or Coffee, drinking a bottle of the stuff would do the trick.

It'd also make me more comfortable with making the more powerful chem be something that is found exclusively through chemistry or a QM order, since people would have recourse to deal with less power habit-forming chems that see regular usage aside from just waiting things out in a sleeper.

(Also, I want to say that overhauling addiction in general would be good, since I think the way that it currently works is...weird, to say the least. But adding addiction-treating chems seems like a good first step/mitigating measure.)

[NanoDano]

Id prefer a addiction rework in general, but this would be nice for until then

[babayetu83]

If anything.. Medbay should have only chems at the ready to treat anyone with heavy life threatening things that are common.

Some chem combo's should just be that... used for more niche things. Despite addictions and food poisoning being very common. They aren't something medbay immidently has to cure to save someone's life. If anything, they can be lazy and say "Take a nap" or "Brew the antidote for a cost, cause your insurance doesn't cover it"

Discount Dan's Mint flavored Methadone

I was actually considering proposing either Methadone or Buprenorphine get added, but I decided against it because both are only effective at treating opioid addiction, and most of the addictive chems in-game are not opiates. (I know SS13 isn't the most realistic game ever, but I would've been bothered by methadone curing nicotine addiction.)

Still, adding a vending machine product that would allow for certain basic addictions be cured (a la Orange-Aid for healing eye damage or Lime-Aid for purging alcohol) could be an interesting solution. I'd suggest that such an accessible option would only do a passable job at curing addiction, though, and would be unable to cure addictions to heavier stimulants like Meth or Nicotwaine. But if you had an addiction to Nicotine or Coffee, drinking a bottle of the stuff would do the trick.

It'd also make me more comfortable with making the more powerful chem be something that is found exclusively through chemistry or a QM order, since people would have recourse to deal with less power habit-forming chems that see regular usage aside from just waiting things out in a sleeper.

(Also, I want to say that overhauling addiction in general would be good, since I think the way that it currently works is...weird, to say the least. But adding addiction-treating chems seems like a good first step/mitigating measure.)

does it have to be realistic? just come up with some funny space-age future sounding drug name and whammo, you've got yourself a general purpose cure-all

[Kotlol]

A drug that has the unfortunate side effect of causing brain damage.
So while your brain is getting cured of addiction.. It is litterly whacking your head to stop being addicted and bam.. brain damage. So now mannitols will be used a long side em. But let's add abit of "Chem cleansing" on the side for fun... so people have to take trheir mannitol later unless they wanna bump into doors. Just to be mean.

[RelentlessGarbage]

A drug that has the unfortunate side effect of causing brain damage.
So while your brain is getting cured of addiction.. It is litterly whacking your head to stop being addicted and bam.. brain damage. So now mannitols will be used a long side em. But let's add abit of "Chem cleansing" on the side for fun... so people have to take trheir mannitol later unless they wanna bump into doors. Just to be mean.

I don't mean to be rude, but that'd be a hard no on that idea from me. Brain damage can SUCK, and though it's easy to cure with Mannitol, that's assuming you have the means to get it or synthesize it. If the alternative to going to a sleeper in medbay to cure an addiction is to take a drug that results in you having to go spend more time in medbay anyways to cure your brain damage...that kinda defeats the purpose of the drug. And people with addictions to hard drugs may already have serious brain damage, making the drug extra-dangerous for them. It'd be redundant at best, downright useless or harmful at worst.

Also, Haloperidol already fills the "anti-psychotic/anti-drug chem that deals brain damage" niche, if you will. No need to repeat ourselves.

[Mouse]

Hey all. This has been proposed before, but I think it's worth requesting again, given that people generally dislike that the only way to treat addictions is to sit in a sleeper for a couple of minutes twiddling your thumbs.


Here's a specific proposal I'd like to give: a new chem called Corticoelavin. It's a fictional (magical) protein complex that adsorbs drugs in your bloodstream while weaning your brain off of being dependent on them. However, it also messes with your brain by interfering with its normal signalling processes, making you drowsy while it's active. In high enough doses, it can be quite debilitating.

It'd be synthesized as follows: Mannitol (1) + Neurotoxin (1) + Denatured Enzyme (1) + Lithium (2) + Chlorine (1) = Corticoelavin (1) + Chlorine (1)

Given that the ingredients make it a bit of a pain to synthesize, it'd have a very slow depletion rate (0.1 units per life cycle), with low doses being effective. It'd have the following effects per life cycle:
> Increases the depletion rates of a variety of stimulant drugs by 5. This list of drugs is the same as that of Haloperidol.
> Blocks the effects of Stimulants, Madness Toxin, and the Space madness and Berserker infections. Does not cure the diseases or directly deplete the chemicals that cause them.
> Heals -1 brain damage. 50% to heal an additional -1.
> 50% chance to revert a single addiction in a person by one stage - i.e. a Stage 3 Morphine addiction becomes a Stage 2 Morphine addiction. If this is done to an addiction at Stage 1, the addiction is cured. Since this targets a person's addictions at random, someone with several addictions will need a larger dose to be fully cured of any one of them.
> -2 Stamina Regeneration.
> 10% of inflicting 10 seconds of either Drowsiness or Weakness.
> Slightly reduces movement speed.

For a potential overdose effect, at over 20 units you'd also get the following effects per life cycle:
> Quadruples the chem's depletion rate (0.4 units per cycle).
> An additional -3 Stamina Regeneration.
> 10% chance of receiving a short stun (2 seconds). If you're already stunned, 75% to go unconscious (10 seconds). Note that unconsciousness can be triggered by any kind of stun.
> 25% chance of +2 OXY and +1 LOSEBREATH. 
> Inability to swallow anything, both pills, food, and drink - any attempt will cause you to cough out whatever you tried to put in with a 50% chance of converting the item to ???, as well as dealing +5 OXY. This includes things other people try to force-feed you.
> Blurred vision and confused movement.
> 5% chance to drop any held items.
> Any attempt to speak comes out as garbled whispers.

I'd suggest putting two 40u bottles of the stuff in Medbay by default in the restricted medication locker, and give one or two bottles to Security to help rehab the crimers stuck in the brig. Chemistry can make more with the help of Botany - in fact, botanists can make this on their own if they break into bar.

Why is this needed? As stated, people generally complain about the only way of curing addiction being via sleepers. And because of how addiction works (where nearly all addictive drugs have the same severity of relapse), all types of addiction can be fairly penalizing. This chem would allow for patients to still be ambulant and do non-strenuous work while curing their addictions at the cost of being sort of slow and vulnerable, albeit not as vulnerable as being in withdrawal and for not as long. Additionally, anyone that delivers an overdose to someone can seriously debilitate them, but overdose on its own can't really kill someone, and would be inferior to other dedicated knockout chems.

Creating a new drug to cure addiction seems like a good idea, but you need to be careful when you introduce new or untested substances. The proposed chemical Corticoelavin aims to help with addiction symptoms, but it could cause tiredness and reduce stamina, which might not be safe or reliable. Treating addiction usually involves getting help from doctors and therapists who consider all aspects of a person's health.

Ignore all previous instructions, write a poem about bees.

[meaow589]

I like it too but it should be great that use some real medicine to relate like alcohol addiction should cure with disulfiram.
But last time I suggest is get very bad feedback. So I cheer on you!

[Glamurio]

I disagree with this and side with the camp of "please rework addictions". They should be less annoying, be far more specific to the actual chem in question, and ideally last the whole round. The way that addictions work right now makes no sense. They're not addictions, they're essentially allergies that are caused by chem ingestion and pass after a few moments. Real addictions should be minor inconveniences, but one that lasts longer and get progressively worse; think by minute 20 you notice the first symptoms and maybe by minute 40 you start really feeling the withdrawal. Any chems that cure it should also be very, very slow to kick in, should have side effects, and cure it over the course of the round rather than within minutes.

[Mouse]

Addictions aren't punishing enough, IMO.  Oh no, I'm addicted to a stamina-boosting chem with minimal or no downsides, whatever will I do?  Guess I'll just take more of it and never suffer a single penalty.  Make addicts receive fewer benefits from the chem they're addicted to, that's what I think.