Hitch up the reindeer - teen drug slang

     Teen drug slang, what you don't know may hurt them

Hitch up the reindeer dude! Yes, it's getting close to Christmas again, and the time draws near to start preparing for the holiday season. A time when goodwill toward men, and women is supposed to abound, and giving is better than receiving.

The Vaults of Erowid drug slang

However, 'hitching up the reindeer" in this case, has nothing to do with Santa's sled, nor is the smoke lazily rising from the chestnuts roasting on the open fire coming from a fireplace. Nope, here we're talking about the reindeer probably tweaking, and junior inhaling a lung-full of cocaine smoke.

Mixing drugs

Teen drug slang, a language that baffles parents, and even other teens at times, is further evidence on how some of these kids view drugs. Use of slang is more than just a means to covertly communicate information between people.

Parent tries slang

Attaching specific, benign, or positive sounding words to drugs, or any negative behavior for that matter, minimizes the severity of what people think, and do with them. If "hitching up the reindeer" evokes images of mayhem, and blood & guts, then you might want to visit a psychiatrist for a check-up. It probably evokes positive images, and feelings, (if you believe what Christmas is all about anyway), and that is the point.

You overhear someone say, "Dude, let me get your space ship, mine broke." Any clues as to what that is? You're in Florida now and you might hear a person talking about a "square mackerel." Would you know what that meant other than it's a fish with issues? The square mackeral is about marijuana, and the space ship is a crack pipe.

Drug use self-awareness quiz

Referring to a drug as a gift of the sun, Belushi, All-American drug, beam me up Scottie, candy flipping, or Kibbles & Bits doesn't have the best built-in deterrent affect for people, let alone teens. But just so you know some of the slang teens, as well as adults use in the drug world, here is a short list for you to look over. There are more words, but this list is not meant to be all-inclusive. Not enough space to hold it all.  There are also other names given to these drugs as well as soem of the behaviors that go with them.

Hitching up the reindeer - Inhaling cocaine smoke

Candy flipping -  Mixing LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) or acid with ecstasy

Georgia home-boy - 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.

Cheese - This combination drug of black tar heroin and Tylenol P.M. is responsible for killing 20 teens since 2005 in Dallas and it's suburbs.

Crunk - Actually used as a verb meaning to drink and use drugs.

Snow - This drug probably has more names than an identity thief. Cocaine. Synonyms include Charlie, crack, coke, dust, flake, freebase, lady, nose candy, powder, rock, rails, snowbirds, toot, white, and yahoo. And 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."

Special K - Anesthetic used in humans, and animals, ketamine is abused as a "club drug." It can cause hallucinations and euphoria. It is also called vitamin K, breakfast cereal, cat valium, horse tranquilizer, K, Ket, new ecstasy, psychedelic heroin, and super acid.

Antifreeze - Heroin, and also known as Big H, brown sugar, dope, golden girls, H, horse, junk, poison, skag, smack, sweet dreams, tar, train, Mexican mud, China white, and others.

Kibbles & Bits - Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drug called Ritalin. It is also referred to as pineapples.

Triple C - Coricidin HBP Cough and Cold. Sold in drug store as an OTC medication.

Dexing - Another term for abusing cough syrup. Other names are robotripping, or robodosing because persons tend to chugg this stuff down like there's no tomorrow.

Roofies - rohypnol, also known as the date rape drug, the forget pill, La Rocha, Mexican valium, R-2, rib, roachies, roofenol, rophies, roche (pronounced roe-shay), and rope

Crank -  This is the stimulant methamphetamine. Synonyms include meth, speed, chalk, white cross, fire, and glass. This dangerous stuff is also referred to as ice, crystal meth, and can be smoked, snorted, injected or taken by mouth. Before and after video here.

DXM  - Dextromethorphan is an over the counter drug found in cough supressants. It is also called Poor Man's Candy, Dex, DM, Drex, Red Devils, Robo, Rojo, Skittles, Tussin, Velvet, Poor Man's X, and Vitamin D. In high doses, 900 mg and higher, it becomes an hallucinogen. "Tussin" is another name for it that has caught on. This drug is a big problem because it is so easily obtained.

Pharming  Party - Youth get-together where drugs are exchanged. Attendees bring various drug stashes to the party, sometimes tossing the pills into a bowl where teens just grab whatever is availabl. At others, these kids will barter the pills exchanging them with peers. An OxyContin might get you several Xanax. These are dangerous parties, and have cost teen's their lives.

Prescription drug deaths

Of course this is not an exhaustive list, and teens are forever coming up with new ways to express themselves whether it is in a negative, or positive way. Unfortunately, some of the words used to describe drugs are anything but benign. The perception that drugs are somehow safe, and fun as some of  their names might suggest is a dangerous, sometimes fatal belief. Just email any of the people in this video, surely they have something different to say about it.

In the flow...

Follow me on Twitter: Crash Test Addict

If you have any questions you'd like answered about substance abuse, treatment, recovery, or prisons, email me, or visit my website, and leave your comment on the Guest page at: www.crashtestaddict.com

(Photo - Wikimedia Commons)

Teen Slang

Hitch up the reindeer - teen drug slang by Michael Velardo (Crash Test Addict) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.examiner.com.