Chems Chems ( a truncation of " chemical " ) is both a pre - and post - War slang term for " drug " . A chem is any chemical , medicine , etc . that is used to cause changes in a person ' s behavior or biological systems . Background . Chems were a pre - War term used to describe narcotic drugs and substances that caused numerous temporary side - effects , both positive and negative . Pre - War narcotics included 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 per orders of General Chase , and Med - X , a painkiller found in many pre - War hospitals . A large drug - trade existed within pre - War society . Skylanes Air Flight 1981 was one of several illegal smuggling operations that utilized jet airliner s to smuggle goods across the country . Little is known about how chems entered the markets of post - nuclear America , but it is commonly accepted by most wastelanders that the Khans invented the chem trade . Their specialties were in creating Jet and Psycho . However , that the Great Khans did not know how to produce chemicals before the Followers of the Apocalypse taught them between 2278 and 2281 . 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 individually . Chems may have 4 or 5 simultaneous effects , usually , with some kind of balance — 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 . Non - addictive chems . 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 stimpak s for sale , some chems will need to be purchased from one of the vendors specializing in chems . Resisting addiction . There are several ways to resist addiction : Curing an addiction . Once addicted to a chem , the user has to either continue taking the chem or suffer withdrawal effects specific to the addiction . It is eventually desirable ( if not necessary ) to cure the addiction . To cure an addiction , the individual has several choices : 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 . The following is a part of a report that was released : " " The game contains the option to take a variety of " chems " using a device which is connected to the character ' s arm . Upon selection of the device , a menu selection screen is displayed . Upon this screen is a list of " chems " that the player can take , by means of selection . These " chems " have positive effects and some negative effects ( lowering of Intelligence , or the character may become addicted to the " chem " ) . The positive effects include an increase in Strength , stamina , resistance to damage , Agility and hit points . " " Corresponding with the list of various " chems " are the small visual representation of the drugs , these include syringes , tablets , pill bottles , a crack - type pipe and blister packs . In the Board ' s view , these realistic visual representations of drugs and their delivery method bring the " science - fiction " drugs in line with " real - world " drugs . " " One of the reasons for the ban was of the opiate painkiller , morphine is one of the chems that would have been available to use by players . As a result of the ban , Bethesda decided to have morphine 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 " .