Narcotics in Sigil

Given Sigil's incredible racial diversity, it seems unlikely that you could outlaw narcotics in any real fashion because so much stuff affects so many other things in about ten million different ways.

Considering that one person's drug is another exemplar's desert topping, I doubt anything in Sigil is controlled on the premise that it has deleterious effects on society unless its one of the few things in the multiverse with universal (or nearly universal) efficacy, such as Styx Water.

However, there are probably certain substances that are banned in Sigil because it's possible to establish direct harm was done to a sentient being in order to create them. I'm sure the Book of Vile Darkness has a couple good candidates.

Of course, there's also the question of enforcement, meaning how much authority for searches are you willing to a lot the Harmonium or other police force. I'd be inclined to say you don't have protection against 'unreasonable search and seizures' in Sigil, meaning the Harmonium can stop you and shake you down for contraband at any time.

More likely the Fated would add taxes to distribution centers (a liquor license fee, or import taxes.) Outlawing something to charge a fine for people using it usually produces less end profit than just taxing it directly once you take in the court and enforcement costs.

For what it's worth - I can't recall this ever being addressed in the published books, so I'd go with the idea that illegal substances are those produced from soul-material or as a direct byproduct of torture of a sentient being.

And everything else may be subject to import taxes, transport fees, licensing for public sale, etc etc etc. That still gives smuggling a reason to exist for the goods to get around the impact to the profit margin. So you may still find drugs and booze that *are* illegal - but because of how they've been produced, not because of what they are. (Why yes, I am from a state with a sizable percentage of moonshiners - why do you ask? )

I'm fond of this interpretation.

The only drug in canon of which I'm aware is Desert's Night, from Ankhwugaht in Baator -- take a whiff, and you either undergo an introspective experience with some similarities to mainlining heroin... or die in horrible agony. In the games I run, it's very illegal in Sigil, simply because it's so insanely dangerous, but it's the only real controlled substance of note.

The Cage has shades of Victorian-era London -- I think an opium den would fit right in (maybe complete with decor from Fo Ling Po). Plenty of mind-altering substances are cultivated on the Lower Planes, even beyond the real world varities... but they still have some great hemp-growing soil in Bytopia, and I can just imagine a poor excuse for a Sensate trying to lick every toad in Elysium.

Ah, my mistake on the death bit. Failing the save actually sends the victim into a state of rampant paranoia and rage; after three days he mindlessly kills anything he can get his hands on. Passing the save means a quiet and pleasant day spent in your own head, recovering from mental trauma (and attempting a save at -6 to recover a memory lost to the Styx).

It's a lot like an opiate in that way: it can work wonders for the healing process, or be absolutely terrible and potentially fatal, with little in between.