Ha, I just eddited the rules. damage part of the rum was ignored if you made the fort save.
The 'keeping the crew docile' effect is done by the fatigue part of the effect, which always happens. Easily makes people want to get the charisma ( or aren't sneaky enough) but still pacifies them, especially if they were already fatigued to begin with. So some slip it away, most drink it.
If you fail the fort save, you may also become addicted (second save +2, but will). If addicted and you don't use the drug regularly, you immediately take the damage again, but can't heal it until you either a) resume the drug, or b) break the addiction.
So, this way an addict kind of wants to keep using it, regular users don't rapidly degrade, but you can in fact still OD on it.
Variant of heave: same thing, only damage when failing fort save. After three fails immediately make a will save vs current DC to avoid falling unconcious. Quick d6 roll, 1 you vomit all over yourself before falling down, 6 you keep going but will not remember anything the next day beyond this point.
Sidenote: anyone else notice that mister Plugg's cat is nonlethal in his stat block? Makes me annoyed every time I see it.
I like this version of rum of yours and will likely go with it when I start of the AP tomorrow.
And btw: Pluggs's cat actually does nonlethal damage, because the Cat o' nine Tails is listed with "nonlethal" both in the Player's Guide and the Pirates Companion.