So one of my players took a mild addiction to stimulants at character creation, basically saying "I don't want to be hopped up on amphetamines or anything, but I definately see this character needing more than just a cup of soy-kaf in the morning to get going."

Which gets me to thinking...is there a Red Bull equivalent in the SR universe? Or, more appropriately, a stimulant that is still legal (albeit barely) most places but isn't as harsh as the drugs I'm seeing in Arsenal etc...?

I'm thinking something like +1 Reaction +d3 Initiative for d3 hours after dosing, then -1 Reaction, -d3 Initiative, -d3 DP on Perception tests for d3 hours after the high. (I know I'm groggy and not noticing things when I am crashing...) Medium to Highly addictive. When jonesing for it, -1 Reaction, -d6 Init, -d6 DP on Perception tests.

Thoughts? Was there a drug or something in the rules that would fit this niche that I missed?

Most people looking for a mild stimulant addiction go with Betel (Arsenal pg 74). It doesn't give you the type of boost your talking about, but it never gets worse then mild.

Looking for more of a boost and your looking at Betameth, but that has much nastier after effects.

While we're on the subject of drugs, can an Adept with Improved Reflexes take Cram or Jazz to gain Initiative Passes? I have a player who wants to play an addict, but is having difficulty finding a drug that his character would find worth taking.

well there is a hard cap on initiative passes, but except for that, i am honestly not sure. Tho i guess drugs could be classified as either a technological (lab) or magical (awakened plant).

Many things specifically state that the IPs gained do not stack, or that IPs gained from multiple sources do not stack.

Longhaul is your friend....

Right. Cram and Jazz don't. The last sentence of Cram kind of implies you *can* use it with other Initiative boosters:

Wasnt there a fic in the beginning of the original SR4 book that involved a run against a company that was making a specail super energy drink engineered for trolls and Orks?

Yes there was. The story was called "BUZZKILL" and the drink was called "Buzz Blitz!" I think.

You can't boost the improved reflexes power with anything, it says on the power's desc.

I took it to imply that characters might either use it regularly (to compensate for lack of bio/cyber generally) or to compensate in spot situations against potential opponents who are probably cybered; not that a cyber character could boost further with it.

generally I don't find allowing cybered characters to get an extra IP with the drugs to be particularly unbalanced as long as you bother to enforce addiction rules and remember that if you let PCs do it then so can NPCs; but I'm not sure that there's any support for that in the RAW.

(for that matter, it would depend on what kind of augmentation is giving them the extra passes, since several state they work with no other boosts in their own rules text.)

It is not a stimulant per se, but Snuff (in Arsenal) grants +1 Reaction and Pain Resistance 1, with no side effects. It is generally in cigarette form and is just a combination of Nicotine, THC, and Salicin.