When it comes to exploring Tamriel, along with the various goods and services contained therein, a few interesting patterns emerge that mimic real work economic flux. After all, 'those who use skooma for pleasure quickly become slaves to its visions,' and Tamriel's black market is all-too-willing to exploit that servitude to the narcotic for financial gain. From the Bravil Skooma Den in Cyrodiil to the streets of Riften in Skyrim, there are ample instances of Skooma abuse if you start looking for them. However, observant players with a mature eye for modern problems will notice that Skooma addicts in The Elder Scrolls occupy a very low stratum of Tamriel society - and their interactions with other NPCs echo the very real struggles of real world addicts. Meanwhile, Skooma itself has no tangible side effects whatsoever. Various mods have certainly taken liberties by tweaking gameplay elements to introduce more realistic side effects into certain consumables of the various Elder Scrolls titles (a la the Hardcore mode of Fallout: New Vegas), but there is no real in-game mechanic: alcohol is a non-addictive consumable, with temporary side effects to Stamina regeneration.
