Drug Slang Among Kids: What Parents Need to Know

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RENO, Nev. -- Cutting the cheese may have a completely different meaning to students these days. According to the National Drug and Crime Clearinghouse, there are more than 3,800 different slang words for slang. These words are being used to throw off adults.

Snow, White Girl and crank are just some of the terms kids might be using to reference drugs according to Web MD.

"If I were to show this to my parents they would be like oh hey cheese, you want a piece of cheese, like they would totally not understand what we were talking about," Patty Guerrero, a UNR student said.

Teens and young adults are mostly getting exposed to this terminology from classmates at school.

"You'll hear them when you're hanging out really. You can just be sitting at the library and you'll hear somebody say something. Or you'll just be at a party and you'll hear somebody talk about them or hear people doing them," Kris Suhr, a UNR student said.

A lot of these terms are reinforced by popular culture from music, to TV shows, to movies.

They're using more creative terms to describe drugs like marijuana, cocaine and heroin. Victor Taylor, a high school graduate, says he's heard a variety of terms coming out of high school.

"No matter how many terms there are, kids are just gonna come up with more terms because they don't want to get caught...i know some people just tell their friends, hey bring the spoons, I'll bring the ice cream," he said.

That translates to "Bring the pipes or lighter and I've got the drugs."

Many of the slang words are a clue to what drugs are up-and-coming drug on the streets. One UNR student says Molly, also known as ecstasy is getting more popular from what she can tell on campus.

"It's a lot harder to know what your kids are doing because they're not verbal with you," Taylor said.

Understanding this lingo will give parents a tool to monitor their teens for drug abuse.
