Smokeleaf joint

Smokeleaf joints are social drugs that are relatively safe to use, easy to produce, and provide a moderately potent mood and recreation buff, balanced by some drawbacks. Care should be taken however, as the consciousness debuff its high inflicts can cause death in pawns with already lowered consciousness.

Aquisition

Smokeleaf joints can be cooked at a Crafting spot or Drug lab. No research is required to craft smokeleaf joint. Each joint requires 4 Smokeleaf leaves and 450 ticks (7.5 secs) of work. Its cooking speed is dependent on the [[Skills#|]] skill. Despite being [[Skills#|]]-based, the Crafting work-type must be enabled in the Work menu in order to perform this activity.

It can also be found on raiders and purchased.

Summary

Smokeleaf is a moderately potent mood enhancing social drug that has a variety of effects. These can be broken into effects that occur:

Instantaneously and one time upon using the drug.
While high on the drug.
While having a built-up tolerance to the drug.
While addicted to the drug.
While withdrawing from the drug.

Upon smoking

A pawn smoking a smokeleaf joint will look for a place to sit first, but is still able to smoke without one. Smokeleaf joints are smoked, taking 720 ticks (12 secs). It has the following one time effects:

+80% Chemical recreation
+50% Stoned on smokeleaf severity (see "Stoned on smokeleaf" below)
−10% Rest
+3% Tolerance severity, divided by body size (see "Tolerance" below)
If the pawn has an 15% tolerance already:
- 2%+ Addiction chance (see "Addiction" below)
If the pawn has an addiction already:
- +90% Smokeleaf need (see "Addiction" below)
- +6% Addiction severity (see "Withdrawal" below)

Stoned on smokeleaf

"Smokeleaf's active chemical in the bloodstream. Generates a soft feeling of fuzzy well-being."
— Stoned on smokeleaf description

While each joint smoked increases the severity of the stoned on smokeleaf severity, depending on the tolerance (see "Tolerance" below), by up to 50% (see "Upon smoking" above), it decreases by 100% per day again, meaning that the high of a single dose lasts 12 hours. The maximum severity of a smokeleaf high is 100% which is reached with 2 joints. Regardless of the smokeleaf high severity, the effects are always the same. Only their duration changes accordingly:

+13 Mood ("I'm, like, stoned, man.")
−30% Consciousness (WARNING: If a pawns consciousness drops to 0% they die.)
−10% Moving
+30% Hunger rate factor offset. (Note: The offsets to the factor are additive with each other, while the factor itself is multiplicative with the hunger rate.)
−20% Pain

Tolerance

"A built-up tolerance to smokeleaf. The more severe this tolerance is, the more smokeleaf it takes to get the same effect."
— Tolerance description

Gain and loss

Each smokeleaf joint consumed increases the tolerance of the pawn by 3%, divided by the body size of the pawn. Thus, animals or small colonists, such as teenagers, gain more tolerance per drug use. Tolerance decreases at a rate of 1.5% per day.

Effects

Tolerance proportionally reduces the severity of high given per dose of the drug. This is done by way of applying the following multiplier on severity gain for high of the drug in question only:

Multiplier = (100 - (0.75*Tolerance (%) round 0))%

Note that the rounding is performed before subtraction from the 100. For example, a tolerance of 10% results in a multiplier of 82%

Pawns can become addicted to smokeleaf upon taking a dose once their tolerance is over the minimum of 15%. There is also an increased chance of addiction as tolerance rises. See Addiction for details.

Further more, tolerance above certain thresholds imposes a chance over time to gain the following ailments:

Tolerance above 45% imposes a chance to get asthma proportional to the tolerance held. Asthma gained this way will affect both lungs.

Tolerance	MTB Asthma	Graph
45%	99999 Days
50%	180 Days
100%	135 Days

Tolerance above 36% imposes a chance to get carcinoma proportional to the tolerance held. Carcinoma gained this way will affect only lungs and only one lung at a time.

Tolerance	MTB Carcinoma	Graph
36%	99999 Days
40%	180 Days
100%	135 Days

Addiction

"A chemical addiction to smokeleaf. Long-term use of smokeleaf has caused neurological adaptations at the cellular level, so the brain can no longer function properly without the drug. Without regular doses of smokeleaf, withdrawal symptoms will begin. However, extended abstinence will force the brain to adapt back to its normal state, resolving the addiction."
— Addiction description

Each dose comes with a 2% chance of addiction. Once a pawn has a tolerance of 15% or above, each dose carries an additional chance of addiction that scales with tolerance.

All in all the chance of addiction is as follows:

Tolerance	Addiction Chance	Graph
<15%	2%
15%	4.2%
50%	12%
≥80%	32%

Developing an addiction means a pawn has a smokeleaf need. The need for smokeleaf falls by 50% per day, consuming smokeleaf satisfies the need by 90% (see "Upon smoking" above), meaning the pawn will need to consume smokeleaf at least every 1.8 days to prevent withdrawal symptoms.

Withdrawal

"Because of a smokeleaf dependence, this person needs to regularly consume the drug to avoid withdrawal symptoms."
— Need description

As soon as the smokeleaf need reaches 0%, the pawn will develop a smokeleaf withdrawal. From then on the addiction severity falls by 3.33% per day from the initial 50%, meaning it takes about 30 days to overcome the addiction. Consuming smokeleaf during a withdrawal will increase the addiction severity by 6% again (see "Upon smoking" above). During the withdrawal the pawn suffers from the following symptoms:

−20 Mood ("I really wish I could smoke. I feel jittery, and my gut has that anxious sensation all the time.")
−20% Consciousness (WARNING: If a pawns consciousness drops to 0% they die.)
−15% Moving
Mental break chances:
- Food binge: on average every 30 days. This averages to 1 food binges during each withdrawal.
- Hard drug binge: on average every 50 days. This averages to 0.6 hard drug binges during each withdrawal.

Analysis

This is a relatively easy to acquire drug with moderate mood boosting and Recreation effects, but the high has significant penalties to Pawn Capacities, such as decreased Consciousness and Moving. As such, it is advisable to change your colonists' drug policy setting from the default of free recreational use.

As a social drug, consumption is relatively safe compared to hard drugs; one smokeleaf joint every 2 days will not cause dependency. If smoked more often and the smokeleaf tolerance reaches 15% or more, then consumption has a 2% chance to create addiction. Those with visible tolerance will develop asthma or carcinoma in the lungs in a mean time of 180 days.

Despite a +13 mood boost and its relative safety, smokeleaf is not suitable for regular mood management due to its severe Consciousness penalty of 30%. Consciousness directly impacts Moving and Manipulation, and Manipulation in turn heavily impacts a very large number of critical pawn stats and most production speeds.

The default drug policy for new colonists is set to "Social drugs", which, also by default, has smokeleaf set to "For recreation", meaning colonists are allowed to smoke a joint whenever they feel like it for joy and social purposes. Due to the risks and the loss of productivity caused by smokeleaf highs, it is advisable to change this policy so joints are only used when needed to prevent mental breaks.