In several circumstances in medicine – e.g. when considering HIV or hepatitis C – it’s very useful to know about a patient’s potential history of drug abuse. However, sometimes they’ve already given you information without your knowing about it. The following may be helpful (with special thanks to the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine). Amphetamines: Speed, whiz, Billy, pink champagne, crystal, methamphetamine (‘meth’ or ‘chalk’) Amyl nitrate: Goldrush, poppers, snappers Barbiturates: Barbs, idiot pills Cocaine: Coke, Charlie, uncle, the white, the nice, snow, rock, crack, nuggets, wash, gravel Dihydrocodeine: DFs Drug-induced sleep: Gauching, nodding, going on the nod Drug intoxication: Stoned, off it, bladdered, ripped, wiped out, off my box Heroin: Smack, the nasty, gear, brown, skag, hit, Harry, junk Ecstasy (MDMA): E, X, echo, disco biscuit, love drug, XTC, snow Heroin with ecstasy: Party pack (2-for-1 deal when pusher’s business is low) Filter: Bud/cigarette tip, for drawing drugs through before use GBL (gamma-butyrolactone): Nail varnish remover (deadly if used with alcohol) Injecting (subcutaneous, IM, subclavian): Mainlining, hitting/jacking up, cranking, having a dig (skin popping, muscle popping, pocket shot) Ketamine: Special K (Home Office class C drug, like cannabis); a K-hole is a dissociative state, may be a ketamine prelude to ‘ego death’ LSD: Acid, trips, cardboard, tabs, microdots (2 mm tabs) Marijuana: Weed, pot, draw, ganja, grass, resin, Mary, hash, skunk Methadone: Mud, juice (implies liquid methadone) Methylenedioxyamphetamine: MDA, snowball (like MDMA but more psychedelic) Needles: Spikes, nails (tools means syringes) Obtaining drugs: Score (selling drugs is dealing) PCP: Angel dust, KJ, ozone, missle Physeptone ampoules: Amps Prostitution: Working the block/square, doing business, on the game, on the batter, flogging one’s golly Prostitute’s client: Mush, punter Shoplifting: Grafting Smoking heroin: Chasing the dragon (bonging means smoking cocaine) Syringes: Works, tools (gun is the barrel of a syringe) Temazepam: Temazies Tourniquet: Key Wanted by police: ‘On me toes’, keeping head down White heroin: China white Withdrawing from opiates: Turkeying, clucking Zopiclone: Zim-zims Literature: ’Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine’ (8th edition).
