18 Retro Slang Words for Marijuana That Deserve a Comeback

No matter what you call it, cannabis has always carried a unique aroma—sometimes sweet, sometimes skunky—and has inspired countless creative nicknames over the decades. From laughing grass to Nixon, here are 18 vintage slang terms for the beloved psychoactive plant.

1. Laughing Leaf

In the 1930s, American authorities didn’t find laughing leaf amusing. During the jazz era, marijuana gained popularity among young people, prompting officials to crack down on what they deemed a hazardous drug. “Users often call these cigarettes ‘muggles,’ and the resulting euphoria a ‘giggle,’” an Alabama newspaper reported in 1937. “A single pure marijuana cigarette can induce a three-hour laughing spell.”

2. Goof butts

Emerging in the 1930s and 1940s, goof butts became a popular term for marijuana cigarettes. This trend wasn’t limited to teens—celebrities like Robert Mitchum from The Night of the Hunter were also avid enthusiasts. A Los Angeles psychiatrist remarked in a 1948 interview, “Hollywood’s elite are bored with the ordinary. They seek thrills, often turning to reefers for excitement.”

3. Muggle

While muggle is now synonymous with non-magical beings in Harry Potter, it originally referred to marijuana or joints in the 1920s. Jazz legend Louis Armstrong, a known cannabis lover, even named a 1928 track “Muggles.” The term remained in use through the mid-1900s, with Raymond Chandler referencing it in his 1949 book The Little Sister, where detective Philip Marlowe calls a clerk a “muggle smoker.”

4. Salt and pepper

The connection between these common kitchen seasonings and cannabis remains a mystery, but salt and pepper became slang for marijuana as far back as the 1940s. In Mezz Mezzrow’s 1946 autobiography Really the Blues, a character remarks, “I’ve been puffin’ salt and pepper till my head spins.”

5. Mezz

Mezzrow wasn’t just an observer of cannabis culture—he was so deeply involved in smoking and distributing it in 1930s Harlem that his name became a term for the plant. Mezz meant marijuana, and mezzroll described “the kind of thick, high-quality joint I was known for rolling,” as Mezzrow noted in Really the Blues.

6., 7., and 8. Mary Warner, Mary Ann, and Mary and Johnny

While Mary Jane is now the most famous nickname derived from the Spanish marijuana, it wasn’t the only one. As early as 1923, the plant was also called “Mary Warner.” By the late 1960s, the term had faded into obscurity. “It wasn’t always known as ‘pot,’” The Daily Record of Long Branch, New Jersey, observed in 1968. “Back in the day, people called it ‘Mary Warner.’ Though forgotten now, it’s a fascinating piece of cannabis history.”

Other historical nicknames include Mary Ann, which appeared in print as early as 1925, and Mary and Johnny, which gained traction by the mid-1930s.

9. Jive

In 1936, Stuff Smith and His Onyx Club Boys dropped a lively swing tune titled “Here Comes the Man With the Jive,” celebrating a figure who “erases your worries” by bringing marijuana. While jive was widely used to describe cannabis at the time, by the 1950s, it had evolved to refer to heroin or drugs in general.

10. Alice B. Toklas brownies

In 1954, Alice B. Toklas, the longtime partner of Gertrude Stein, released a cookbook in England featuring a recipe for “Haschich Fudge,” described as a “delightful treat for a Ladies’ Bridge Club or a DAR meeting.” The recipe, contributed by artist Brion Gysin, was initially removed from the U.S. edition due to its cannabis content but was reinstated in a 1960s reprint. Toklas’s creation gained further fame with the 1968 film I Love You Alice B. Toklas, which showcased the iconic weed brownies. During that time, an Alice B. Toklas brownie was almost certainly not free of cannabis.

11. Catnip

In the 1960s, being catnipped meant you were sold a blend of catnip—the herb that enchants felines—and marijuana, or sometimes just plain catnip. As William S. Burroughs noted in his 1959 novel Naked Lunch, catnip was often “passed off to the unsuspecting or inexperienced,” as it closely resembled cannabis in appearance and scent.

12. Rainy day woman

On the surface, the recurring line “They’ll stone you” in Bob Dylan’s 1966 track “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” appears to highlight the inescapable judgment of society. However, many interpreted the phrase “Everybody must get stoned” as a nod to cannabis use. “In teen slang, ‘getting stoned’ doesn’t mean intoxication from alcohol but rather a high from drugs,” TIME explained in July 1966. “A ‘rainy-day woman’ … refers to a joint.” Despite this, Dylan dismissed the connection earlier that year, stating at a London show, “I’ve never written a ‘drug song,’ and I never will.”

13. Thirteen

Around the time rainy day woman became popular, Hunter S. Thompson gave new significance to the number 13. In his 1967 book Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, Thompson noted that some bikers wore patches with the number 13, symbolizing the thirteenth letter of the alphabet, ‘M,’ which stood for marijuana and signaled the wearer’s use of the drug, as he described.

14. Wacky baccy

The term wacky tobaccy—short for wacky tobacco—became a playful nickname for marijuana in the 1970s. By the 1980s, it was often shortened to wacky baccy. For instance, a 1989 Christmas lunch at a Sussex golf club turned chaotic when guests unknowingly consumed cake spiked with cannabis. Ten attendees “reported feeling strange,” according to The Guardian, and were hospitalized.

“No one found it amusing. It was a prank that backfired,” stated the golf club secretary, who denied any involvement in the incident.

15. and 16. Mootah and Moocah

In the 1930s, discussions about cannabis often included the term mootah or its variations (like mooter, mootie, and mootos), all likely derived from mota, Mexican Spanish slang for marijuana. Moocah also emerged around this time, with the Oxford English Dictionary suggesting it’s “possibly a variant” of mootah.

17. Fu

The term Fu emerged in the 1930s as another name for marijuana. Its exact origin is uncertain, but Green’s Dictionary of Slang proposes it might be a shortened form of fumar, the Spanish word for “to smoke.”

18. Nixon

As noted by Green’s Dictionary of Slang, the term Nixon began to describe “low-quality marijuana falsely marketed as premium” during Richard Nixon’s presidency. This somewhat disparaging nickname likely arose in reaction to Nixon’s strict stance on cannabis, a cornerstone of his “War on Drugs.” His opposition stemmed largely from the demographic that used it—hippies protesting the Vietnam War. By outlawing marijuana, Nixon aimed to paint hippies as a societal problem, undermining the anti-war movement.

Nixon established a commission to investigate marijuana, expecting their conclusions to support its classification as a Schedule I drug—the most restrictive category. However, despite the commission’s recommendation to reclassify it, attorney general (and Watergate accomplice) John Mitchell kept it in Schedule I, where it remains classified today.

Originally published in 2021, this article has been updated for 2024.