From workplace emails to social media posts, digital communication has become ubiquitous around the world, with emojis playing a key role in how we talk to each other. These visual cues serve as a quick way to convey ideas and concepts in written messages or to add further context without elaboration.
However, emojis have also been adopted in the context of recreational drug use, where dealers and users employ them as a coded language to discuss drugs, quantities, and even the potency of supplies. This can make it challenging for concerned individuals to determine if a loved one is involved in substance use.
This article aims to clarify the most frequently used emoji drug codes, explaining their origins and meanings.
What are emoji drug codes?
Since the days of prohibition and earlier, slang terms and cryptic language have been used to discuss illegal drug activity, such as production, trafficking, and purchasing of substances. This shorthand was primarily used to deceive law enforcement, but evolved to become part of the lingua franca of people buying and selling illicit substances.
Today, most of these communications happen online, either through social media platforms or messaging apps, with buyers of drugs rarely having to speak to dealers in person. As the means of buying drugs have changed, so has the code used to talk about them in secret. Enter the world of emojis.
Emojis originate from Japan (ΓÇ£EΓÇ¥= image, ΓÇ£mojiΓÇ¥= character) and were first created in the late 90s.[1][2] They gained global popularity in the early 2010s, becoming widely used on communication and social media apps such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp.[3] For the most part, emojis are used as exclamations, providing a visual representation for the tone of a message.
However, they have gradually been ingratiated into our everyday lexicon, with a careful combination of images able to replace whole sentences with no nuance lost. This has led to emojis being widely used between buyers and dealers when discussing drugs, with their own set of meanings and translations.
Emoji drug code explained
Without prior knowledge of what emojis mean in relation to drugs, they may appear relatively harmless. Here we have broken down how emojis translate into drug language, with an explanation of why certain emojis are used for different drugs, as well as general drug-related emojis. Some of these emojis are supplied by the DEA's PDF list, while others have been sourced through independent research.[4]
Prescription opioid emojis
| Emoji | Emoji Name | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 💙 | Blue Heart | One of the most frequently supplied and sought-after illicit prescription opioids is Percocet (oxycodone), which normally comes in the form of small blue pills (M30). The color blue is therefore commonly used to denote prescription painkillers. |
| 🅿️ | P Button | See above. |
| 🟦 | Blue Square | See above. |
| 💊 | Pill | The pill emoji is used in multiple instances to refer to any prescription or counterfeit pill, or even as a catchall for drugs in general. |
Cocaine emojis
| Emoji | Emoji Name | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| ❄️ | Snowflake | “Snow” has long been used as a synonym for cocaine, owing to both having a white, powdery appearance. The snowflake, snowman, and snowcloud emojis are often used to represent cocaine. |
| 🌨️ | Snow Cloud | See above. |
| ⛄ | Snowman | See above. |
| 🦜 | Parry/"Perico" | “Perico” is used to describe cocaine in parts of Southern, Middle, and Northern America. This is due to increased sociability and talkativeness, like the chirping of a parrot, being a common side effect of cocaine. |
| 🎱 | 8 Ball | The 8-ball emoji is used in drug communications to refer to a specific weight: 3.5 grams or an eighth of an ounce. This weight is most commonly used when purchasing cocaine or methamphetamine. |
| 🔑 | Key | The “key” emoji may have two meanings when referring to cocaine. The first relates to cocaine commonly being snorted from a key, often at parties or clubs. The second relates to weights being sold, as a “key” can also be shorthand for kilo. |
| 🐡 | Blowfish | Cocaine has been referred to as “blow” since the late 70s and early 80s, and the blowfish and blow face emojis are the most current evolution of this nickname. |
| 🌬️ | Blow Face | See above. |
| ©️ | Copyright | “C” is the simplest and most common shorthand for cocaine, and while not the most subtle, some use the copyright emoji to refer to cocaine. |
| 🩷❄️ | Pink Cocaine/Tuci/2CB | Pink cocaine, also known as tuci or 2CB, is a synthetic hallucinogen that also has stimulant effects. The drug has surged in popularity in the last decade, especially among partygoers and on the club scene. |
| 🇨🇴🇵🇪🇧🇴 | Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and other flags | These countries are often linked to cocaine as they are connected with the drug’s production and origins. Other flags may be used to signify another origin. |
Meth emojis
| Emoji | Emoji Name | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 💎 | Gem Stone | The gemstone and crystal ball emojis are used to represent crystal meth, owing to the substance's glistening, crystalline appearance. |
| 🔮 | Crystal Ball | See above. |
| 💙 | Blue Heart | The color blue has become synonymous with crystal meth ever since the TV show Breaking Bad first aired in 2008. The show featured a distinctive form of crystal meth that was blue in color, owing to its supposed purity. |
| 🟦 | Blue Square | See above. |
| Ⓜ️ | Blue Metro | See above. |
| 🧪 | Test Tube | Along with the color blue, Breaking Bad also brought the concept of “meth labs” to the general public's attention. The test tube emoji may be used when talking about the production of meth, or drug production, generally. |
Heroin/opiate emojis
| Emoji | Emoji Name | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 🐉 | Dragon | The term "chasing the dragon" originated in Hong Kong in the 1950s to describe the intense cravings associated with low-grade heroin use. “The dragon” or just “dragon” has been used as a synonym for heroin ever since. |
| 🐲 | Dragon Face | See above. |
| 🤎 | Brown Heart | Another often used term for heroin is “brown”, owing to the substance's color. Brown hearts or squares may be used to denote heroin. |
| 🟫 | Brown Square | See above. |
MDMA/Ecstasy emojis
| Emoji | Emoji Name | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 💊 | Pill | While many illegal narcotics come in pill form, ecstasy is perhaps the most widely recognized. While MDMA can come in powder and other forms, ecstasy pills are the most commonly abused form of the drug. |
| ❌ | Cross Mark | At the peak of its popularity, ecstasy was often abbreviated to just “X.” Today, Xanax is more widely connected to this shorthand. |
| 🍬 | Candy | The candy emoji can also represent ecstasy pills, as the pills are also referred to as sweets or candies. |
| ❤️ | Red Heart | One of the common side effects of MDMA and ecstasy is a euphoric sense of connection and love for other people. Heart emojis are often associated with the drug for this reason. |
Xanax emojis
| Emoji | Emoji Name | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 💊 | Pill | Back to Knowledge Base |