Search
Close this search box.

Share what kind of mom you are!

Get to know other mom types!

A Guide to Teen Drug Slang

Last week I was looking at the latest online news in our area and saw a story about the tragic overdose of a teenager. Teen drug slang is evolving daily and parents can’t keep up. It is important to not only keep up with the latest trends and drug slang terms, but also talk openly with your kids about them.

The following list will give you a brief overview of the most common slang names for drugs that teens use.

Addies

A shortened way of saying Adderall, also known as the Smart Drug or Study Drugs. It is a prescription drug to treat ADHD, but it often dangerously used by kids to focus on exams.

Molly

Slang for molecular is the pure crystalline powder of the popular club drug MDMA, which, in pill form, is known as ecstasy and is often mixed with other substances, such as caffeine.

Special K

A medication used as an anesthetic in humans and animals, ketamine is sometimes abused as a “club drug.” It can cause hallucinations and euphoria in higher doses. Synonyms include vitamin K, breakfast cereal, cat valium, horse tranquilizer, K, Ket, new ecstasy, psychedelic heroin, and super acid.

Crank

The stimulant methamphetamine. Synonyms include meth, speed, chalk, white cross, fire, and glass.  “Crystal methamphetamine is called ice,” says Cleveland Clinic’s Pollock. “Crystal meth is smoked, but meth can be injected, snorted, or taken as a pill,” he explains.

Antifreeze

Heroin. Synonyms include Big H, brown sugar, dope, golden girls, H, horse, junk, poison, skag, smack, sweet dreams, tar, and train, according to the website of Phoenix House, a national alcohol and drug abuse treatment and prevention facility.

Crunk

This is a verb that means to get high and drunk at the same time.

Snow

Cocaine. Synonyms include Charlie, crack, coke, dust, flake, freebase, lady, nose candy, powder, rock, rails, snowbirds, toot, white, and yahoo, according to Phoenix House. “After all this time, alcohol and pot are still the most used drugs by teens, but cocaine is really a strong third, especially with females, because of the weight issue,” says Janice Styer, MSW, a clinical coordinator-addictions counselor at Caron Treatment Center in Wernersville, Pa. “The drug of choice among women with eating disorders is almost invariably cocaine.” A stimulant, cocaine can decrease appetite.

X

Ecstasy or 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Synonyms include Adam, E, bean, clarity, essence, lovers speed, MDMA, roll, stacy, XTC, according to the Phoenix House. 

Georgia Home Boy

This refers to Gamma Hydroxybutyrate (GHB), a central nervous system depressant can produce euphoric, sedative, and body-building effects. Other synonyms include Gamma-OH, Grievous Bodily Harm, Liquid Ecstasy, Liquid E, Liquid X, Organic Quaalude, and Scoop, according to Phoenix House.

Roofies

This refers to rohypnol, a.k.a. the date rape drug. Synonyms include the forget pill, La Rocha, Mexican valium, R-2, rib, roachies, roofenol, rophies, roche (pronounced roe-shay), and rope. 

Dexing

This means to consume large amounts of cough syrup. The main ingrediant (Dextromethorpan Hydrobromide) can make you lose feeling in your obdy or have visions or double vision.

Cheese

This is a hazardous mix of black tar heroin and Tylenol PM (or other medicines containing diphenhydramine). It looks like grated parmesan cheese — thus the name. There were more than 20 teen deaths in Dallas and surrounding neighborhoods that have been attributed to Cheese since it was identified in 2005.

Candy flipping

This term refers to a high that’s achieved by combining LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) or acid with ecstasy. “The new thing, especially with kids on the Internet, is which drugs are best and safest to combine,” explains Styer. A new study by the Caron Treatment Centers found that one in 10 messages on the Internet involved teens seeking advice from their peers on how to take illicit drugs. The messages were posted on common online message boards, forums, and social network sites such as MySpace.com.

Skittles Drug

This is a nickname for the drug Coricidin. The drug can cause a high feeling and can cause hallucinations.This is also a term for a lethal trend where people mix together a rainbow array of prescription pills and pop them in their mouths like candy.

Hooch

This is a street term for Alcohol. Other slang terms include booze, brews, hard stuff, juice, sauce and more.

Mellow yellow

Also known as Hallucinogens, are strong mood-changing drugs with unpredictable psychological effects. LSD, or “acid,” is sold as tablets, capsules, liquid, or on absorbent paper. PCP is illegally manufactured as tablets, capsules, or colored powder and can be snorted, smoked or eaten. Street names also include(LSD) acid, blotter acid, window pane, dots, lucy in the sky with diamonds (PCP) angel dust, ozone, rocket fuel, PCP, supergrass, killer weed, embalming fluid, wack, and ozone.

Smack

A drug slang term for Heroin. Other names include thunder, hell dust, big H, nose drops, H, ska, junk, and skag. When black tar heroin is mixed with over-the-counter drugs containing diphenhydramine, it looks similar to grated parmesan cheese, and so it is commonly called “cheese.”

Mary Jane

Also known as Marijuana has a chemical in it called tetrahydrocannabinol, better known as THC. All forms of marijuana are mind-altering (psychoactive). Common names for Marijuana include grass, pot, weed, bud, dope, indo, hydro, and ganga.

Tell Us! Have you faced these struggles with your kids?

Sources: WebMD and abovetheinfluence

Recommended Links:

ASK YOUR CHILD...

What do you think are some of the risks of drug use?

Get daily motherhood

ideas, insight, &inspiration

to your inbox!

Search