Zyme

"A vial of zyme, brewed up in some basement lab."

- Deus Ex description

Zyme (meaning "a ferment") is a synthetic drug that appears in the USA during the. It quickly spreads throughout the crisis-torn society and is considered a serious threat to public welfare. It is theorized to be the cause of an outbreak of mental illness. Washington D.C. considers introducing a zero-tolerance policy against recreational use of zyme.

Player interaction
In Deus Ex, a zyme dealer named Rock can be encountered in the Mole People tunnels under Battery Park. A vial of zyme can be purchased from him and given to Lenny in exchange for a LAM.

JC Denton is offered a job by mafia members to rob a zyme stash from a bakery in Paris. While the mafia members will offer credits for the zyme stolen from the bakery, they will actually pay for any zyme that JC is carrying. Since only 20 vials of zyme can be carried in the inventory at once, no more than 1,300 credits can be earned through this sidequest. In order to receive the maximum amount of credits per vial, JC must refuse to sell Renault the vials once; in response to which, Renault will increase his buying price.

Using zyme will induce a "drunk" effect similar to consuming several servings of alcohol at once.

Trivia

 * Post-Collapse greasel trainers utilize zyme to increase the aggressiveness of their pupils.
 * Zyme seems to have addictive properties, at least in some users. JC Denton does not suffer addiction to zyme, possibly due to his nano-augmentations.