Chems



Chem (a truncation of "chemical") is a slang term for a drug. A chem is any chemical or medicine that is used to cause changes in a person's behavior or biological systems.

Background
Chems are substances created both before and after the Great War, resulting in both positive and negative side effects. Examples of such drugs include Mentats, a pre-War "party-drug" originally developed by Med-Tek for medical purposes, Buffout, a "sports-enhancement" drug popularized by athletes, Psycho, a combat-enhancement drug developed at the behest of General Chase, and Med-X, a painkiller found in many hospitals.

Evidence of illegal drug trafficking can be found in the wasteland, such as within the wreckage of Skylanes Air Flight 1981. The airliner contained a hidden compartment with a manifest including multiple chems, weapons, and cash. After the war, new chems were invented alongside the pre-War variants, created and spread by post-War groups such as the Great Khans, based on chemistry lessons taught by the Followers of the Apocalypse.

Types of chems
Various chems exist in the wasteland, some more beneficial than others. Each chem has an individual profile, allowing users to "stack" chems to provide a larger bonus than either does individually¹. Chems may have several simultaneous positive effects, but usually carry negative effects: It might lower one stat while raising another. Abusing chems results in addiction. Addiction to a chem will cause withdrawal symptoms when the chem wears off, resulting in lowered stats unless the user continues to take the drug, or seeks a cure or treatments. Chems are divided into two groups: addictive, and non-addictive.


 * -|Addictive chems=

Addictive chems

 * -|Non-addictive chems=

Non-addictive chems

 * -|Mentioned-only=

Mentioned-only

 * Aspirin
 * Caffeine
 * Dextromethamphetamine
 * ¹ - chems do not stack; only one may be active at a time.

Locations

 * Chems can be found lying about individually or inside containers.
 * They can also be purchased from wasteland vendors. While nearly every vendor will have at least a few stimpaks for sale, some chems will need to be purchased from one of the vendors specializing in chems.
 * In some cases, chems can be crafted.

Behind the scenes
In the release of Fallout 3 in Australia, the game was banned for including references to real drugs. A report was released by the OFLC on why it banned the game. One of the reasons for the ban was that the controlled drug, morphine, was one of the chems that would have been available in-game. As a result of the ban, Bethesda decided to have it renamed to Med-X. Evidence of this last-minute change is the fact Med-X's editor ID is Morphine and Med-X addiction's editor ID is WithdrawalMorphine.