Common Street Names for Cocaine

At the peak of its use in the 1970s and 1980s, cocaine began to influence many aspects of the American culture. Glamorized in songs, movies, and throughout the disco music culture, cocaine became a very popular recreational drug.

Some of the cocaine street names, slang terms, and nicknames were given to cocaine during the height of its popularity have become part of the American lexicon. Some of those names are based on the appearance of the drug, the effect cocaine has on users, the influence the drug has had on many aspects of society, and merely to cover up the topic of conversation.

Cocaine begins as green leaves of the coca plant, but by the time it reaches users, it is a flaky white powder or hard, white rocks in the form of crack cocaine.

The appearance of the drug has been the basis for many of its street names or nicknames.

• Bernie's Flakes
• Bernie's Gold Dust
• Big Bloke
• Big Flake
• Blanca
• Crack
• Flake
• Gold Dust
• Have a Dust
• Haven Dust
• Icing
• Line
• Paradise White
• Pearl
• Sleigh Ride
• Snow White
• Snowcones
• White Mosquito
• White Powder

As the drug began to gain popularity in the 1970s, it also began to influence many areas of society, particularly the entertainment industry. Many of the slang terms that evolved into the language were the result of cocaine's influence on American culture, as well as the culture's influence on the use of the drug.

• All-American Drug
• California Cornflakes
• Double Bubble
• Dream
• Florida Snow
• Foo Foo
• Foo-Foo Dust
• Gift-of-the-Sun
• Gift-of-the-Sun-God
• Gin
• Girlfriend
• Hunter
• King
• King's Habit
• Late Night
• Love Affair
• Movie Star Drug
• Pimp
• Schoolboy
• Scorpion
• Sevenup
• Society High
• Stardust
• Star-Spangled Powder
• Studio Fuel

Some names used for cocaine are based on the geographic origin of the drug, or at least the perceived geographic origin of the drug. Some of these street names may be used for the sole purpose of enhancing the perceived market value of the drug.

• Burnese
• Inca Message
• Percia
• Percio
• Perico Cocaine
• Peruvian
• Peruvian Flake
• Peruvian Lady

More names, however, were derived from how the drug affects its users. The potency or the pureness of the drug also prompted many of its colorful nicknames and street names.

• Big Rush
• Bolivian Marching Powder
• Bouncing Powder
• Friskie Powder
• Glad Stuff
• Happy Dust
• Happy Powder
• Happy Trails
• Love Affair
• Marching Dust
• Marching Powder
• Nose Candy
• Nose Powder
• Nose Stuff
• Paradise

Typical for most illegal drugs, some of the street names used to refer to cocaine sound like names of people, at least in part to disguise the subject of the conversation. Some of these nicknames are based loosely on the word "cocaine" while others seem to have no apparent logical connection at all.

• Angie
• Aunt Nora
• Bernice
• Bernie
• Billie Hoke
• Carrie
• Carrie Nation
• Cecil
• Charlie
• Chippy
• Choe
• Corrine
• Corrinne
• Henry VIII
• Her
• Jejo
• Lady Snow
• Merck
• Merk
• Mujer
• Nieve
• Schmeck
• Scottie
• Serpico 21

Some of cocaine's street names are simply derivatives of the word "cocaine" itself. Or plays on the word "cocaine" or "coke."

• Big C
• C
• C-Game
• Coca
• Coconut
• Coke
• Cola
• Lady Caine
• Mama Coca

There are dozens of slang terms for cocaine that seem to be based on no other criteria except that they are deceptive. These names are used by cocaine users to cover up the topic of their conversations about the drug in case they are overheard by others.

• Barbs
• Basa
• Base
• Bazulco
• Beam
• Boy
• Burese
• Came
• Candy C
• Carnie
• C-Dust
• Cholly
• Combol
• Duct
• El Perico
• Esnortiar
• Jelly
• Monster
• Mosquitos
• Tardust
• Teenager
• Yesca
• Yesco
• Zambi

There are also slang terms used to describe cocaine when it is combined with other illicit substances, including:

• Cocaine with PCP: Space, Whack
• Cocaine paste with marijuana: Bazooka
• Cocaine mixed with heroin: Belushi, Bombita, Speedball
• Crack cocaine mixed with fentanyl: Dirty Fentanyl, Takeover

A Word From Verywell

If you or someone you love is struggling with cocaine abuse, help is available. Talk to a trusted health care provider or call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Helpline at 1-800-622-HELP (4357) for a referral to a reputable addiction treatment center. Addiction is a treatable condition.