I think the costs for BTLs are much higher than for booze and cigarettes. Lifestyle would probably cover the later two already.

Coffee and cigarettes aren't supposed to be devastating addictions in the setting. BTLs are, and yet the rules don't reflect this. This makes as much sense as a game where smoking crack gives you an Intelligence bonus.

Well, the Table of Contents PDF for Unwired that was just posted gives hope that the situation will soon be corrected. Probably on p.187 or p.188.

If it does, then I can almost forgive that awful cover.

After reviewing Unwired's additional rules for BTL, the main drawback introduced seems to be the fact that while there are sources where you can get your fix for dirt cheap or even free, resorting to using those sources can put you at risk for slotting buggy and/or virus-laden simsense unless you have the skills and patience to check your downloads thoroughly.

It's as if every city street corner has a shoebox labeled "Free Crack!" piled full to the top with the stuff, but every 5th rock is cut with rat poison, and every 20th rock is laced with Ebola.

But there's still no effect for actually using the stuff?

There's a new class of BTL, called a Reality Amplifier, designed to overlay a particular mental state on the user without cutting out their natural senses (Think moodchips that actually do something with a game bonus instead of just making a character experience a certain emotion). Of the four "amps" detailed in the book, one called "Breakdown" is a torture chip used to inflict certain penalties on a captive, one called "Red Alert" invokes the Fight/Flight response to grant certain bonuses but caries with it some penalties as well, and the other two are pretty much straight up bonuses with no downsides.

No downsides, save addiction, and eventual burnout!