For context, I have a science-fantasy world with intelligent, non-anthro animals trying to live in peace with each other. A major problem is of course what the carnivores eat, and their solution is something called Dietary Enzyme Supplements, which carnivores take in order to supply artificial, carefully engineered digestive enzymes that allow them to digest plant matter and directly synthesize essential nutrients that would otherwise only be found in meat inside their own digestive tracts. It’s something that works really well for its intended purpose and that they’re really proud of, and I talk more about their history with solving the predation problem here if you’re interested.
For the species, taxa, and factions that have committed to banning predation and having predator and prey live in harmony, dietary enzyme supplements are typically freely available and a guaranteed right under their constitution, along with plant based food in general. Dietary enzymes are ubiquitous and work really well for their intended purpose, and represent the very bleeding edge of their chemistry and nutrition science prowess.
The most advanced dietary enzymes, those intended for obligate carnivores like cats, contain trace amounts of a special quasi-element called Intium as part of how they work, which is also a really powerful substance that power most of their super advanced sci-fi tech. However, due to how versatile and powerful it is, Intium is also extremely dangerous if misused, so it is heavily regulated by the government, and the only real “consumer” product that contains it are those obligate carnivore dietary enzymes. The next most accessible source is hovercraft fuel and the internal components of hovercraft engines, both of which are prohibitively expensive and require an aviation related license to purchase, while dietary enzymes are both free at the point of access and anyone can just go into a grocery store and take them without anyone else batting an eye.
The vast majority of animals that need dietary enzymes do not abuse their free access to them, since there’s no benefit in taking more than the required dose and they’re just flavourless pills that most animals don’t just stuff their faces with. However, this is where amateur chemistry enthusiasts come in, after a post on a science forum showing how to extract Intium from ATDP, which are the dietary enzyme supplements most commonly used by Felines. The process is pretty simple, basically just burn the pills at a very high temperature and in a high oxygen environment to convert the proteins and other support chemicals into carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, etc, and you’re left with a solid residue of mostly Intium oxide, which can then be further processed into pure Intium. This is technically legal since the government doesn’t regulate what exactly you do with dietary enzymes once you have it, but the problem is that ATDP, while free to use, still has a high production cost, and only contain minuscule amounts of Intium. A domestic cat for example typically takes one pill of ATDP per week, with the enzymes attaching to the lining of their digestive tracts to prevent the still perfectly functional enzymes from being expelled out the other end after one cycle of digestion and being wasted. However, an unlicensed chemist smelting pills to extract Intium can go through literally thousands of pills in a few hours, and those pills are paid for almost entirely by Feline tax revenue so neither the Feline government nor the Feline population in general are happy about this. Of course the safety risks of working with Intium apply as well, including pretty severe explosion risks, but the amounts they extract are so small that it’s hardly a public safety hazard so much as a public burden as they destroy tens of thousands dollars worth of dietary enzymes just to extract ten dollars worth of Intium. The Intium is not the expensive part of those pills, the expensive parts are the carefully engineered and synthesized proteins that surround the Intium. After a few incidents of particularly brazen and entitled animals (who notably weren’t even carnivores and had no biological need for dietary enzymes, certainly not the super advanced obligate carnivore versions that contain Intium) cleared out multiple grocery store shelves for their Intium extraction hustle and went viral on their internet, attracting intense public shaming with both predator and prey calling them selfish and misusing public resources, they realized that it was a massive problem and a policy change was needed to ensure fair access to this extremely important resource.
The most obvious and immediately effective solution is just to implement some kind of rationing system, where instead of a shelf filled with boxes of dietary enzymes that any animal can take, they move them behind the pharmacy counter and require ID to obtain, where they’ll check both whether you’re actually a species that requires the enzyme and also use a centralized database that tracks how much you’re taking per month. However, again, only a tiny minority of animals abuse the free access to dietary enzymes to do things they really shouldn’t be doing anyway, so it would feel like a massive burden for the rest of the carnivore populations who literally depend on access to dietary enzymes to survive in a society where predation is banned. It would also preclude things like animals who don’t need dietary enzymes getting them for their carnivore friends since they were going to the store anyway, or even things like losing your box of dietary enzymes and potentially getting denied replacements if they only allow animals to obtain them at the specific dosages they need, nor would they be able to stock up some dietary enzymes in their own nests and dens in case of supply chain issues. Not to mention the costs associated with implementing and maintaining such a rationing system which will also be passed onto the general public, potentially siphoning funds away from other public projects like housing and transportation, or just having less money to make more dietary enzymes. Free and easy access to both plant based food and dietary enzymes have been such staples in their society that they really don’t to abandon it just because a few animals don’t follow the rules, so they’re looking for an alternative that lets them have their dietary enzymes and eat it too.
What do you think? Is their only hope to just start rationing dietary enzymes? If you were a policy maker in this world, how would you address this issue?
Given this scenario, as a policy-maker I would start with statements explaining the issue in a press conference. This should create public support for further measures. I assume the properties of Intium are understood by the general public, as are the reasons for the heavy regulation. The least motivated of the abusers might even come to realise that what they are doing is bad.
After this, my first short-term policy decision is to limit the amount of Intium supplements any one customer can pick up from the grocery store in one visit. Say six months worth (24 pills if once-weekly intake is normal). Stores in our world already do that sometimes when they are running a limited promotion and it’s not too hard to implement. Using existing infrastructure, just asking cashiers to made sure customers can only check out one box at a time.
If these pills only contain trace amounts of Intium, this policy will make profitable backyard chemistry impossible. Going up a level, any organised crime boss will understand that paying people to visit multiple stores and collect enough supplements to process, will cost more than the value of the Intium gained. Of course I would also have the law enforcement agencies conduct investigations into such practices.
If the problem still persists through corruption in supply chains or ineffective enforcement, I would use the population registry to compile a list of those creatures that truly need the supplements. A new government service would be created that mails these recipients their allocation of supplements. Existing government facilities like post offices or pharmacies can also start dispensing smaller quantities without any registration required.
Creating an extra government agency is of course only logical if the costs of manufacturing the misused supplements outweigh the savings that such a service would provide.
Concurrent with all of these steps, I would speak with the pharmaceutical industry and ask if it were possible to create a supplement that did not contain any Intium. Given the high-tech nature of your society, I believe this would be possible.
A lot of good points. Thank you!
Also, why not just do what happened with Iodised salt in the real world?
Add a tiny amount of dietary enzymes to certain foods you’re sure will be consumed anyway. Provide the food industry with these supplements free of charge but check this supply strictly. The consumers don’t pay extra but they will have the necessary enzyme intake to stay healthy. If criminals want to extract Intium, they will be forced to buy these food products in insanely infeasible quantities.