lets talk about the drugs please

[Budal]

Hello, i would like to discuss the side effect's of drugs. I think we have all noticed that only a small percentage of the people on the server actually use drugs, most just produce and sell them, which effectively makes the only use for drugs selling them on the streets.

Why are people not using drugs? Are the side effect's too bad? For me personally its the way addiction presents itself. If you get addicted it doesn't matter how often or how much you use you will still experience "withdrawals" and the only way to get rid of them is to go to rehab. I would like to propose a change to how addiction works, as long as you keep using the vice of your choice (every 30 mins?) you don't experience withdrawals. With this change once you are "addicted" you have a reason to keep looking for and using the drug of your choice, and we would hopefully get a couple more people into recreational drug use, making drugs have a bigger purpose than just being sold to the locals.

PS. Please add an animation to you character when you "blackout" so other people know there is and IC reason you just stopped responding/moving.

[dK_]

I 100% agree with continued use to prevent addiction effects, but It should be proportionate to how many drugs you take, the higher level of addiction the more drugs you need to be taking to prevent side effects 

[Budal]

13 hours ago, Sgt. Jax said:

 but It should be proportionate to how many drugs you take, the higher level of addiction the more drugs you need to be taking to prevent side effects 

As long as its capped at a sustainable amount, If its uncapped or too high then the same problem persists, at some point your only option would be to get into rehab.

[dK_]

1 hour ago, Budal said:

As long as its capped at a sustainable amount, If its uncapped or too high then the same problem persists, at some point your only option would be to get into rehab.

Isnt it that same way IRL though?

[Budal]

2 minutes ago, Sgt. Jax said:

Isnt it that same way IRL though?

IRL you die if you get riddled by bullets, but you don't see us making new characters after every gunfight. Making it 1:1 to real life shouldn't be the goal, making it fun and interesting should be.

[dK_]

i agree but there should be some sort of incentive to eventually go an seek treatment 

[Budal]

There is always an incentive, you are addicted to god damn drugs and want to get clean 

[Coach]

As a regular user in game i agree. I dont really have a huge issue with how drugs are, i like that there is side effects so people have a reason to not do the drugs. Otherwise everyone would be tweaked out. 

I like the idea of side effects only showing up if you dont take your drug of choice for a certain time, 20 or 30 minutes seems about right. It doesnt make much sense for me to black out from withdrawals 5 minutes after i just smoked. Also agree with a blackout animation, maybe just ragdoll for the duration. Very awkward when im talking to someone and just stop talking mid sentence for no reason and they dont know why.

[DimitriPetranko]

I think that drugs should be slightly tweaked on levels of addiction per drug. I got zero willpower if I am taking a single bump of Coke once and blacking out every 5 minutes. I think I would be more likely to make my character a regular user if I could space it out enough and make sure I won’t kill myself everytime I get in a plane.

[Vetis Veeper]

That part did always feel a lil bit weird to me. Drug addiction in city feels like an on/off switch. One suggestion that keeps coming up between myself and people who do roleplay as drug addicts is that when you do a drug you should have a span of time afterwards that you are not suffering from withdrawal symptoms. You got your fix so you shouldn't be tweaking out and telling bad knock knock jokes. Addicts can buy themselves a span of time safely get tasks done but they will always need to go seek out a doctors help for real drug treatment. Drug addicts would more frequently be carrying drugs increasing chances of being discovered by the police and the economy would be stimulated as a real need for those drugs arose. 

Best Buds is attempting to bring a prescription into the city that would buy you a reasonable amount of relief from addiction symptoms for a short duration. It would be a legal option but socially awkward to administer and more costly than another dose of drugs. 

Edited June 1, 2021 by Vetis Veeper
spelling mistake

[Vetis Veeper]

On 4/13/2021 at 3:58 PM, Richie Jax said:

i agree but there should be some sort of incentive to eventually go an seek treatment 

It's actually very difficult to roleplay as an addict and get anything done. blackouts make you rag doll out of your vehicle and one usually ends up downed waiting for help even if buckled in.  Making money becomes difficult (as it should) as nearly every job requires driving. TNT mining gets a lot more dangerous, you lose crops while growing weed, you never get picked as getaway driver and if you black out in a gun fight you're as good as dead and just F'ed it up for the whole team. My point is it take fortitude for these people to stick with roleplaying an addict. Having to hear and reply to "are you okay" every ten minutes is a form of mental torture. 

Focusing now on how to increase roleplay around drug treatment I was told that our city used to have a treatment facility up and running. Now that drug addictions have a whole scripted system to support such roleplay why don't we see if people are interested again? There are already groups of people coming in for treatment together after the parties every weekend. Maybe non violent criminals with drug charges could get reduced fines or sentences for going to drug rehab. Court Ordered rehab could make for more diverse roleplay outcomes. Participants get a drugs are bad M'kay education. Maybe list off a way their addiction has made life harder. We'll get some funny stories out of that one. There could be a short yoga lesson to teach addicts how to calm future cravings. Everyone takes a metaphorically cleansing dip in a pool and heads out the door with a Best Buds care package including their CBD Enema Detoxify take home kit.