Slang terms in the drug subculture are constantly changing, as its ethnic, social, and demographic composition changes and as newillicit drugs roll in and roll out with the tides of fashion, including geographical variations. Yet certain terms showa remarkable durability such as some of those for heroin (trademarked Heroin in Germany, 1898)—a narcotic that has been a staple street anodyne since the early 1900s. Other drug-related terms have come into the mainstream to become a permanent part of the English language, e.g., yen, hooked, pad, spaced out, high, and hip. Many of the following words had been in use during much of the twentieth century (a fewantiques of sociological or historical interest are included) and some are the product of the 1980s and 1990s. Origins, if known, are given.

a amphetamines, a stimulant

a-bomb, bomb LSD, a hallucinogen

acid [a shortening of d...