Like most species, there are a number of recreational drugs that the Senti use. Some of them have roots in use, sedatives and stimulants, for example. Others may be an enjoyable result of their experimentation. Others can be extremely addictive. One should always watch for visible signs of addiction to avoid possible violence and irrational panicked behavior.
Most painkillers are gallium based. Gallium compounds have an effect on Senti nervous systems, slowing or blocking certain neurotransmitters and deadening severe pain. This is helpful in debilitating injuries such as crush injuries and loss of limb, or in surgical recovery when combined with baryllium suppliments to help reduce scarring.
Addiction can happen quickly, and has a certain set of behavioral and visible symptoms, with notable physiological changes, as well. Recovery is often a long and difficult road.
Many gallium addicts have reduced cognitive function, impaired motor skills, and impaired judgement that makes them prime targets for predatory or opportunistic crimes. They often act irrationally, and have difficulty grasping certain concepts that should be obvious.
Gallium can dull the luster of the skin and make hair rather brittle as it gets encorporated into the fatty tissues of the skin. In stead of a luster or shine, a gallium addicted Senti would seem pale, matte, with flat, dead hair that breaks off easily.
Gallium makes Senti bones brittle, weakening them and thinning the skin. Eventually, internal organs will begin to function at increasingly reduced capacity, leading to premature death by mass starvation, hypometallicism, and other complications.
In its common form, pink bismuth, this substance can act as a sensory enhancing stimulant, improving reaction time, sensory detail, and memory recall. It can be likened to a psychadelic form of methamphetamines in carbon based humanoids.
Bismuth addiction can have a slow onset, and can get vey severe over time. As the Senti brain becomes more dependant on it for basic function, addicts will take more and more, creating a compounding effect with distinct visible and psychological symptoms, and they can be dangerous to approach, being irrational and potentially violent.
In very small doses, bismuth can be used to treat various neurological disorders such as ADHD. However, in larger doses, the metal will build up in the hair and skin, starting with mild discoloration of the hair, and leading to crystalline legions across the body.
Bismuth alloys with the crystalline structures of Senti bones and tendons, accelerating growth, but also causing the bones to become brittle. Muscle growth is not affected, causing symptoms similar to full body muscular atrophy, including pain and weakness. There is also a distinct change of color of the skin, similar to jaundice in humans, a tell-tale yellowing that can be easily identified.
In its process of increasing neurotransmitter production, it can produce a sense of hyperawareness, euphoria, and proactivity, being metabolized by the liver into a bismuth compound similar in effect to adrenaline and cocaine.
When inhaled, absorbed through mucous membraines, or other methods to bypass the liver, these effects become far more pronounced, with a distinct deficit to problem solving ability.
Bismuth acts as a neurotransmitter base, causing the increased manufacture and release of base neurotransmitters in the brain, which can be useful in combatting neurochemical ailments such as ADHD, seratonin deficient depression, or other conditions. It can also be used as a growth accelerator to improve healing times, at the expense of a “high.”
Iodine compounds are an important nutrient for carbon based life, and many of them are also used for equipment sterilization. However, they may have some very different effects on Senti physiology, being able to degrade the bonds between cells to cause delamination of skin, tendon, and muscle. These compounds are extremely useful in the treatment of tissue necrosis and softening scars by making it easier to remove affective tissue with less scarring.
As stated, many medical iodine compounds are capable of breaking down the bonds between cellular matrices in Senti bodies. As such, hair and skin softening treatments, scar removal treatments, and other softening treatments feature iodine as an ablative. Moreover, it can be injected as an emulsifier for use in liposuction or other fat removal treatments.
Iodine's ability to delaminate cellular matrices can cause painful and rapidly spreading chemical burns at the exposure sight, starting with a blackening of the skin. If allowed to spread, it will quickly rupture the epidermis and spread across lubricating fats sheathing the musculature before permeating the muscular and cardiovascular systems.
Most standard intoxicants for Senti are based on either lye, alum, or alkaline salts. These can have a variety of effects. Most of these have few, if any, medical use.
Lye based cleaners, along with sodium hypochlorate bleaches are used recreationally as a minor intoxicant with similar physiological and mental effects as alcohol. While more damaging to the liver than other substances, they are often quite effective at cleaning skin, clothes, and other uses. They just also happen to get senti drunk.
Often kept in its crystalline form, sodium alumate, or simply alum, is sucked on like an intoxicating candy with similar effects to THC, acting on an analogy to the human endogenous cannabinoid system in a similar manner. As the human cannabinoid system is primarily neuroregulatory, it affects cognition, emotional health, and other neuroregulatory subsystems, sodium alumate works in a similar manner, and is used recreationally as a relatively harmless intoxicant.
Many alkaline or metallic salts are necessary for the health and function of Senti physiology. However, high concentrations of specific salts, such as maganese dioxide found in zinc alkaline batteries, can cause adverse psychological or physiological effects, such as hallucinations or lethargy.
It was recently found that separashan venom has a hallucinogenic effect on the tsulrati nervous system. Research is ongoing.