- Sleeper has other uses. Please see Sleeper (disambiguation) for other meanings.
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Sleepers is the name given to a drug that suppresses the telepathic abilities of psi-rated humans.
Initially developed by Halotech in 2117, it was offered as an alternative to registered or otherwise detected telepaths who didn't want to abandon their everyday lives and join the MRA or face imprisonment, a policy that was continued throughout the existence of the Psi Corps.[1][2] The drug was also used by the Corps during the Telepath War to help control especially powerful Resistance prisoners.[3] Following the end of the Telepath Crisis, the Earth Alliance reassessed its policy towards its psi-able citizens and took measures to re-integrate them back into "mundane" society, as such the practice of injecting innocent citizens was abolished along with the Psi Corps.
As a drug, Sleepers are very potent and though they take about three hours to take effect, long term use was known to cause mental disassociation as well as severe and sometimes suicidal depression.[4][5][6][7] Even this however was an improvement over the drug's earliest implementation where just a single dose could almost instantaneously bring on the dissociative, "soul destroying" side effects.[1]