Blunt

Blunt is a drug with strong depressant properties, made from processing the pulp of the native Jalanit caroco fruit. The fruit itself has a relatively mild sedative action similar to an alcoholic beverage, but without the pleasantly intoxicating effect. Processed blunt's effects are far stronger, and include slowing of the heart rate, a dulling of the senses and thoughts, and decreased sensitivity to pain. These effects have made the drug valuable for use in surgery, decreasing bleeding, pain, and the chances of catastrophic shock in the patient. The pulp can be steeped to make a tea or grated into powder form which can then be easily administered to a patient.

Blunt has its much darker side, however. As with alcohol, it is often used as a quick escape from distress and misery, with similarly destructive outcomes not just for the individuals consuming the drug, but also for their families and communities. Although only moderately addictive in itself, it is far more addictive behaviorally, as people who use it come to rely on its effects in order to get through their day and deal with difficult situations. Blunt is largely a drug of working people and the poor.

Still more perniciously, blunt is sometimes added to the food or drink of slaves to enhance their ability to endure hard, prolonged labor, while simultaneously making it difficult for them to think clearly or react quickly to things around them. For the slave owners who inflict blunt on their chattel, they feel that the increased docility and endurance outweighs any small slowdown in physical activity. This usage is severely condemned in the Sirdabi Caliphate, and blunt itself is a regulated substance, but this still does not prevent all abuse of the drug.