Drugs

Drugs are an important aspect in the GTA series. Drugs take place in every single Grand Theft Auto game, they are sold, bought (for others), and used by characters around the protagonist on many occasions.

Adrenaline in the GTA III era games were sometimes mentioned as drugs by GTA fans. There was also a deleted feature where in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Carl Johnson would be able to smoke weed which would make the camera wobble around making hard to control CJ.

In Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars the protagonist Huang Lee can control stocks of drugs and buy and sell them to other drug dealers which is a good way to make money. There are six types of drugs the player can deal: cocaine, heroin, downers, acid, marijuana, and ecstasy. On three occasions, Huang has to get drugs as 'buy ins' before initiating a mission.

In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories you could make business empires for drug manufacturing and distribution.

You can also sell drugs in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City while driving the Cherry Popper Ice Cream Factory truck.

Protagonists
It should also be noted that all of Grand Theft Auto's protagonistsare against using drugs, though they frequently deal with them on a business level. Protagonists are never seen doing drugs, and when offered, deny it.


 * One of the main premises of GTA San Andreas is getting crack, crack heads, and crack dealers out of Los Santos to make it a better place.


 * Carl Johnson declines an offer for a bong hit from Frank Tenpenny in Body Harvest. Also when Ryder tries to get Carl to smoke marijuana Carl pushes him away and says "I don't fuck with that shit man."


 * Victor Vance despises drugs, and is extremely uncomfortable even dealing with them. At the end of the game, when Lance reveals that he has obtained twenty kilograms of cocaine to sell, Victor declines, stating "No! No, No, I am not interested, got it?", to which Lance replies "Okay, man. Whatever you say.".
 * Niko Bellic denies a toke of marijuana from Little Jacob on many occasions. He also immediately denies the coke Vlad offers him in Clean Getaway.


 * Luis Fernando Lopez has shown that he isn't interested in drug dealing, as he tries numerous times to convince Armando and Henrique to get real jobs instead of selling drugs (as seen in Corner Kids), but still helps them steal drugs in the Drug Wars side-missions for money. Outside of the drug dealing missions, Luis also declines the coke Yusuf Amir offers him in the mission Sexy Time. Also when Ray Bulgarin asks Luis where do the drugs come in from the club in Boulavard Baby Luis immediantly says "I don't know about that shit man, I just make sure people don't get killed".


 * Huang Lee is warned by his uncle Wu Lee not to get involved in drug dealing during Tricks of the Triad, out of fear that he would become an addict, but Huang assures his uncle that he won't start using drugs himself. When the player reads some of the mission replay summaries, Huang states in them that he is dealing drugs solely for profit, since Liberty City is full of "crackheads, deadbeats, and junkies".

Accidental Drug Use
Some protagonists on occasion feel the effects of drugs by accident.
 * In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Tommy Vercetti gets drunk off of boomshine fumes when his friend Phil Cassidy uses it as a makeshift bomb, which blows off Phil's arm, forcing Tommy to drive Phil to the hospital while drunk.
 * In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Carl Johnson is helping The Truth dispose of his marijuana fields by burning them before the cops arrive. This gets Carl high, and disrupts his basic motor skills.
 * In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, Victor Vance is in a car accident with a van full of a cocaine. This causes Victor's sightline to narrow and blur with purple. His motor skills are also highly effected.
 * In GTA IV, Little Jacob, a friend of protagonist Niko Bellic, has a habit of toking up at the wrong times. One such time includes when the two of them are flying in a helicopter chasing a suspected terrorist. In the enclosed space of the helicopter, Niko is slightly affected by the smoke. The player doesn't see the effects, but Niko's speech is slightly slurred. Afterwards, Niko allows him to continue smoking as the smoke calms his nerves.

Cocaine Use

 * GTA 2
 * According to his police file, Johnny Zoo abuses cocaine.


 * GTA Vice City
 * Sonny Forelli sets up a deal with the Vance Crime Family in 1986 for 2 million dollars worth of cocaine, only to have the deal ambushed by Ricardo Diaz's men.
 * Ken Rosenberg (the lawyer for Tommy Vercetti) is addicted to cocaine.
 * Ricardo Diaz is usually high on cocaine, or using cocaine while meeting with Tommy Vercetti.


 * GTA San Andreas
 * Big Bear is addicted to crack cocaine.
 * Ken Rosenberg is rehabilitated, but starts abusing cocaine again.


 * GTA Vice City Stories
 * A shipment of cocaine owned by the Mendez Brothers that was in Martinez' possession was stolen by Vic and Lance
 * Reni Wassulmaier is addicted to cocaine
 * Lance Vance is a frequent cocaine user
 * Ricardo Diaz is addicted to cocaine


 * Grand Theft Auto IV
 * Elizabeta Torres is a frequent cocaine user.
 * Elizabeta also had cocaine stolen off of her, she had Niko Bellic retrieve it, although he was cut of by police, and Elizabeta Torres ended up in jail on 30 charges of cocaine distribution, 10 years each leading to her 300 year sentence.
 * Patrick McReary also is a frequent cocaine user.
 * Michael Keane is seen snorting cocaine in the mission Three Leaf Clover, as is Gerry and Derrick McReary.
 * Niko and Phil Bell steal a cocaine shipment meant for the Ancelotti Family from some Russian coke dealers for Jimmy Pegorino.
 * Jon Gravelli and Niko's contact at United Liberty Paper want him to destroy vans lined with coke in the frames in the mission Liquidize the Assets.
 * Mikhail Faustin has a cocaine addiction.


 * The Ballad of Gay Tony
 * Several characters use cocaine, including Gay Tony, Chloe Parker, Gracie Ancelotti, Evan Moss, and Rocco Pelosi.


 * GTA Chinatown Wars
 * Huang Lee can buy and sell cocaine.

Marijuana Use

 * GTA San Andreas
 * Most of the gangs be seen smoking marijuana.
 * Ryder is almost always seen with a blunt
 * The Truth is a frequent marijuana user.
 * The Truth also has his own fields of marijuana, which is later burned down by Carl Johnson to save Truth from jail time.
 * The Ballas manufacture marijuana.


 * GTA Vice City Stories
 * Jerry Martinez has Vic Vance buy some pot off of an unnamed man, and stash it in his army bunker.
 * Vic Vance is kicked out of the army for having Jerry's pot hidden under his cot.


 * GTA IV
 * Little Jacob is almost always seen smoking marijuana.
 * Real Badman also smokes marijuana with Little Jacob


 * Niko allows Little Jacob to smoke marijuana in a helicopter during a mission for the U.L. Paper, as to calm his nerves secondhandedly.


 * The Ballad of Gay Tony
 * Armando Torres smokes Marijuana,it is seen when he waits for Luis if he wants to buy some guns from him and also during Clocking Off .r


 * GTA Chinatown Wars
 * Huang Lee can buy and sell marijuana.

Heroin Use

 * GTA 2
 * Uno Carb sells high-tech weaponry to pay for his heroin addiction.
 * Jerkov was arrested for possession in 1997, but was aquitted. Both he, his wife and one of his fellow Russian mobsters are heavy addicts.


 * GTA IV
 * Elizabeta sets up a deal for heroin between Niko Bellic, Playboy X, and Johnny Klebitz and a buyer named Charlie, although the deal ends up being a undercover LCPD sting set up.
 * Niko Bellic steals a truck load of heroin off of some Triads in the mission Truck Hustle.
 * Derrick McReary is addicted to heroin.
 * Marnie Allen was addicted to heroin before going back home to The Midwest.


 * The Lost and Damned
 * Billy Grey was addicted to heroin, and sent to rehab for it.
 * The Angels of Death biker gang were paid by the Algonquin Triads to sell their large heroin supply on the streets.
 * Billy Grey stole a large amount of heroin off of the Angels of Death biker gang.
 * The Triads steal a large shipment of heroin off of the Lost Biker gang.
 * Elizabeta Torres sets up a deal for Johnny Klebitz to sell some heroin to a buyer named Charlie, she sends two associates (Niko Bellic and Playboy X) to assist. The deal ends up being an undercover drug bust by the LCPD.


 * GTA The Ballad of Gay Tony
 * Luis Lopez destroys several Heroin packages belonging to Ray Bulgarin.


 * GTA Chinatown Wars
 * Huang Lee can sell and buy heroin.

Steroid Use

 * GTA 2
 * According to his police file, Sunbeam uses steroids manufactured by Zaibatsu.


 * GTA IV
 * Brucie Kibbutz is an avid steroid user.


 * The Lost and Damned
 * It is revealed that Billy Grey was a steroid user.


 * The Ballad of Gay Tony
 * Brucie Kibbutz continues to use steroids.
 * Evan Moss uses steroids as referenced by Luis Lopez in the mission Frosting on the Cake

Crystal Meth Use

 * GTA IV
 * Ashley Butler is high on crystal meth while Niko Bellic and Ray Boccino are having a meeting.


 * The Lost and Damned
 * Ashley Butler is addicted to crystal meth.


 * Terry Thorpe, the Sergeant at Arms for The Lost Motorcycle club is under suspicion of the LCPD for having a meth lab.

Fictional Drugs

 * GTA 2
 * Numerous fictional drugs of varying levels of legality are manufactured by The Zaibatsu Corporation.


 * GTA III
 * Catalina is a big time drug dealer, selling and probably using a drug called SPANK.


 * GTA Liberty City Stories
 * Maria is addicted to a fictional drug called Zap.

Painkiller Use
GTA IV
 * Dimitri Rascalov is addicted to painkillers. As Mikhail Faustin puts it, he is "so fucked on painkillers he don't give a shit."
 * Roman Bellic is given painkillers by Dimitri Rascalov after being shot in the stomach.
 * Dimitri Rascalov gives Mikhail Faustin a bottle of painkillers to calm him down during his cocaine fueled rage in Do You Have Protection?.