Marijuana Code Words From the ‘Olden Days’

Cannabis code

Photo provided by Ron Glick

When phones in rural areas were almost non-existent, growers had to use CB’s–Citizen Band radios—to communicate and, of course, this meant that anyone listening could hear. So, for obvious reasons, they decided that code words provided a needed layer of cover for their conversations.

Various areas had different codes. For instance, Salmon Creek used words like “visitors” to describe law enforcement in the area and quilting party to describe a gathering to trim up marijuana. Asking if someone had any manicured cannabis for sale might be worded as, “Do you have any completed quilt squares?”

Or sometimes words would be brought up and used in context with just an emphasis to indicate what was needed. “I need some of your Outdoor Life magazines. How many do you have?” Or “I’m wanting your Interior Decorating magazines. Do you have a couple??

The photo above is of the code words used in Briceland in 1979. We’ve written down the code below also. [Pause to chuckle at the spelling of Humboldt. Does this mean that the transcriber was a newcomer, a poor speller, or just made a momentary mistake?]

Dorothy’s Code

CB-Ch.7-So. Humbolt [note: spelling]-1979

KEY ………………………………………….CODE WORDS

Briceland Road……………………………….Yellow Brick Rd.

China Cr. Rd……………………………………Kansas

Blueslide Rd……………………………………Auntie Em’s

China Cr. Gate………………………………….Toto

China Rd. SPOTTER…………………………..Peeper

China Gate Keeper……………………………..Stinger

Cops…………………………………………….Blue Meanies

Aircraft………………………………………….Zonkers

Ripoffs/Lurkers………………………………….Aliens

Briceland…………………………………………Munchkin Land

Miller Cr. ………………………………………..Scarecrow

Elk ridge………………………………………….Tin Man

Ruby Valley……………………………………….Ruby Slippers

Redway……………………………………………Poppies

Garberville………………………………………….Oz

Channel Change Cues

Go to Ch. 14…When you hear—->”Wait a sec”

Go to Ch. 17….When you hear–→ “Hold on a sec.”

We’re going to add this photo to our online marijuana museum. If anyone has any memories or photos of artifacts from this time period, we’d love to read what you remember.

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Bunny Wilder
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Bunny Wilder
4 years ago

That’s hysterical….

stuber
Guest
stuber
4 years ago
Reply to  Bunny Wilder

I remember when I came here in 1981, CB radio was the way to go. I would love to see them brought back, they are almost invisible to CFW and others. I believe they can not be found through triangulation, but Ham radios ca, but I could be wrong. Good way to communicate

Bigmeat707
Guest
Bigmeat707
4 years ago

So who was the great wizard?

Curtain
Guest
4 years ago
Reply to  Bigmeat707

Never came to be. The munchkins would have been saved had there been a wiz.

Ron Glick
Guest
Ron Glick
4 years ago
Reply to  Bigmeat707

Doug Chitard was the wizard of the Whale Gulch trade fair held on May 1 each year. I wonder if it happened this year.

Coyote Mom
Guest
Coyote Mom
4 years ago

Always thought Yellow Brick Road was Whale Gulch

J
Guest
J
4 years ago
Reply to  Coyote Mom

That was my first thought, the unique yellow dirt made it the yellow brick road.

DELLIB
Guest
DELLIB
4 years ago

Yep, and those people contaminated the “Gene Pool” so bad that “Stupid” is the new norm. Sure glad I don’t smoke pot. I will be able to function and survive as the country turns to shit.

Uhhh clue grab time
Guest
Uhhh clue grab time
4 years ago
Reply to  DELLIB

Some of the smartest people i know smoke pot.
Ive watched lawyers toke bong hits and stay up all night writing what turned out to be winning arguments in some seriously complicated trials.
Personally i smoked before every test in college as it helped my test anxiety. Always got A’s even on taxonomy of plants and animals.
Some folks it makes go “duhhh” but usually cuz they smoke too much. For a lot of people its a brain activator.

I find alcoholics, screen/phone addicts, and coke heads to be pretty stooopid to be honest. Look at Miller country, theyll believe anything.
If you hate pot then leave cuz its not going anywhere. There would be no county left without it.
You ought to be thanking growers who decided to invest in the community years ago.
How many people do you know who lost homes in 2008? We barely noticed it here thanks to our underground cottage industry.
Be grateful not hateful. Thats what Jesus said.

There were some great codes out there!! My outlawladyness says to not divulge 😉

Wouldn't it be nice
Guest
Wouldn't it be nice
4 years ago
Reply to  DELLIB

You never heard of Tony Serra?

Willie Caso-Mayhem
Guest
4 years ago

🕯Lol.

Taurusballzhoff
Guest
Taurusballzhoff
4 years ago

Loaded people are so funny!

Marijuana is truly the assassin of youth and good sense. If you think it’s beneficial, look at the culture it built all around you!

Back in the “old days”, I thought it was a big joke too. Now I know that being clean and sober, mindful and aware, is much better than hiding from life and “getting high”…

The anti-cannabis blow-back will grow again in the world, but meanwhile, we can finally grow our own, posess and smoke, and find new ways to support ourselves… Not sure this is progress, with tweakers and junkies everywhere, homeless-ism and the failure of the healthcare system… Seems like we could find something else to talk about besides “drug lingo”…

Meanwhile, my list:

Don’t be angry.
Don’t worry.
Work hard, be diligent.
Be grateful.
Be kind to all living things.

Clean and sober is better than stoned all the time. Life is pretty short, don’t waste it!

Mere mirror
Guest
Mere mirror
4 years ago

Bro you have a ponytail are you indigenous? Or do you pick and choose what qualifies as “drug” culture? To view life transactionally as a series of inputs/outputs is flawed from the get go. If cause and effect is so universally oriented toward yourself, you should take on our oldest and grandest challenge: asexuality. In other words…

Taurusballzhoff
Guest
Taurusballzhoff
4 years ago
Reply to  Mere mirror

Adults in committed relationships, like with kids and marriage, you know, grown ups, have to consider their partner’s wishes in every aspect of the relationship!

Giving up sex, a natural, healthy and pleasurable activity that grown-ups share, would require a consult with one’s partner and their consent. It’s not just my decision! And it’s not the same as one partner, say, giving up drugs…

Thanks for the suggestion, I think…

Wouldn't it be nice
Guest
Wouldn't it be nice
4 years ago

You also never heard of Tony Serra😁

Taurusballzhoff
Guest
Taurusballzhoff
4 years ago

Tony Serra is a friend of Jerry Brown’s… I saw them together at Taki resturant in Sacramento, one night… I think they would hang out with the winos in the park and smoke numbers with passersby… I think that was them…

Here is an interesting article about Tony Serra. I don’t think he said that he smoked dope every night, but he could have, I guess… I know I smoked dope in college, and I didn’t affect my career much!

https://www.lawcrossing.com/article/4209/The-Anti-Attorney-Attorney-Criminal-Defense-Lawyer-Tony-Serra/

Anyway, we had a code word or two of our own, and now, we just say “never mind, he’s just loaded…”

J
Guest
J
4 years ago

If you prefer pharmaceuticals for your physical and mental health issues then go right ahead, but it’s interesting that you think that you’re actually better than others because you made that choice. And you somehow think you’re better than others by taking that much time to bad-mouth an entire group as if that’s educated to lump all people who do one thing into the same stereotypical person. You look like you’ve been around this planet long enough to know that that’s a really sad way to live and it doesn’t benefit anyone including yourself.

If you want to get stereotypical then let’s talk stereotypical pot stoners, a great deal of them are constantly debating how to better human rights and a great deal of them are environmentally friendly and a high percentage don’t consume alcohol as often or as heavily as non-smokers. if you want to talk bad about pot Farmers that are going too big or a growing not environmentally friendly go right ahead cuz those people are actually negatively impacting you, but to bad-mouth an entire group of stoners really says more about you than the stoners.

Matthew Meyer
Guest
Matthew Meyer
4 years ago

Just gonna throw it out there that it’s possible to like weed and not hide from life anymore than the next person.

Also, that hard work, honesty, and kindness are not unknown values amongst aficionados of ganja.

Lastly, where do you get off suggesting that sharing this kind of information about how SoHum people lived 40 years ago is wrong, or should be replaced by something more sober? That’s weird. Maybe start your own website?

Allch Chcar
Guest
Allch Chcar
4 years ago

I didn’t know about this but I remember an old timer calling Garberville the land of Oz. I watched a lot of “the Wizard of Oz” growing up so the connection wasn’t completely lost on me. That was a long time ago now.

Taurusballzhoff
Guest
Taurusballzhoff
4 years ago
Reply to  Allch Chcar

An old newspaper cartoon with Snuffy Smith, Spark Plug, Louisy; the characterizations of Appalachia by Andy Capp… Yes, Lil’ Abner, is probably more appropriate, there in Dogpatch… Otherwise known as Garberville…

Charlie
Guest
Charlie
4 years ago

Then there was “If it’s 4 honks in a row it means there’s a fire and 3 in a row means the cops.” Whale Gulch circa about 1978

And Mr. Balzoff, if you think pot is the assassin of youth what about booze? I can think of several folks killed by the bottle and not all of em were old.

Internal Voice
Guest
Internal Voice
4 years ago

Some folks would say LB’s (for pounds) and it became elbows. Do you have any elbows? How many elbows do you have?
I thought of it as dummy dust.

Big Bang
Guest
4 years ago

The problem I have with weed isn’t the plant itself, no more than corn, barley, juniper berries, or grapes that make booze. It is the thinly veiled excuse that marijuana/cannabis is somehow deemed “medicine”.
It was the disrespect for the plant itself that causes the environmental and social disaster. I guess if the guy that slams a six pack on an empty stomach feels better after doing so wants to call the beer “medicine”, well, ahem, okay. When someone blocks up the headwaters of a creek with plastic sheeting and dumps whatever poisons and fertilizer into the pond for the plants, i feel like that should carry a miserable prison term, period. Grow enough plants on your own property to keep you stoned for the year without fucking up the lifeblood of the planet (rivers, creeks, and springs) more power to ya!
Making hundreds of thousands of tax-free dollars in cash by moving the giant surplus of weed out of state by essentially smuggling is bullshit, if I gotta pay, everyone’s gotta pay.
Weed should not be anymore illegal or unlawful than an oak tree in your yard, but completely gangster fucking the watercourse of the county is not an option, but we all KNOW that is what has happened.
Why should I have to have a licence to be a river guide, or general contractor? Because it is for the betterment of the industry, to ensure(hopefully) that I’m not running around willy nilly fucking up the environment or butchering someones home.
Yes, there are some people who grow dope who are doing it without making a mess, but people being people will take the greed road and leave a trail of destruction in their wake, and sadly, they are the majority.
If the feds would take their finger out of the pie, and they never will, the degradation would cease to exist.
In the end, it will come down to the health of the creeks and rivers, not the cubic dollars poured into the local economy. Water is life, not just for the goddamn weed plants but for the planet itself.

Okie
Guest
Okie
4 years ago
Reply to  Big Bang

Right on!

Rod Gass
Guest
Rod Gass
4 years ago

One of my favorites from the old times was … antiestablishment.

Generally speaking, we chose to depart away from the established ways and means. And boy did we ever ! Marijuana usage and production was realized to be an ally in shielding oneself from the status-quo. Marijuana symbolized a cultural desire to be outside the ordinary.

Now that the California Governor has spun the newest web of establishment composed of taxes and punishment, it’s probably time to reassess the reasons to enlarge the establishment. They couldn’t beat us, so they joined us. Legalization as it turns out, has defined the split between growing bigger government and the unnecessary interference by government.

The current pro-establishment creation of state sanctioned legalization is failing because there are still plenty of us oldtimers around who still live the life and keep the dreams alive.

Film Industry Professional
Guest
Film Industry Professional
4 years ago

In the film and TV industry, when people were looking for indoor pounds they would ask for film that was shot “on stage” (in a building), and outdoor would be “on location” (in a natural location).
God forbid that I just divulged that people in the entertainment industry used and benefitted from some of your ‘Humboldt’s finest’. 😉 Lots and lots of scripts were inspired by the use of cannabis!

Thomas Road Oldie But Moldie
Guest
Thomas Road Oldie But Moldie
4 years ago

Let’s not forget that, like the CB, the same rules applied to the first phones that were available to people in the hills, locally served by Cal Autophone. Everyone (including the operators) could hear each others’ conversations. That often provided some hilarious entertainment, listening to people awkwardly negotiating their ways thru otherwise incriminating conversations. It was usually the person out of the area who would say things that were OBVIOUS (that they were wanting to acquire pot) and the local person trying to redirect the terminology to ‘cover’ themselves. Seriously. We all got lots of laughs (ands occasionally cringed) about that!!
Later, during phone conversations, if one person (usually in the city) had been visited by police, busted or felt uncertain about their down-low status, buyers used to say that their “sister” visited them, or they expected her to visit. If the seller heard that, they would know to not proceed in the conversation and to take heed.
Here in The Creek, after landline phones were installed, people would still use the CB, though less. And a couple people would be available on the phone to relay news in a more private way, and as needed pass on the info to people who should know. Also, they were available to those who were out of the area, and wanted FACTS. (Keep in mind that some neighbors, like the person below, also listened, and understood the chatter among the police, on scanners).
One of the reliable people who served the SC community well by being that person to rely on, was Kathy. She recently passed away. And this is one tribute to her kindness, generosity and the great contribution Kathy made to this community!

R-DOG
Guest
R-DOG
4 years ago

Im sure every crew of people that hung out together and trusted each other had thar own little code most of this was just learned by knowing each other so good

Gasquet
Guest
Gasquet
4 years ago

Black bogatosh

Gasquet
Guest
Gasquet
4 years ago

So purple it’s almost looking black.

John Hein
Guest
4 years ago

Legal weed is for corporate white collar suits and their hipster slaves.

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
4 years ago

This is great and part of the culture lots of the new folks have no clue about.

Big Bang
Guest
4 years ago

A guy at a Boy George concert once said ” If this is culture, give me a club” pretty funny, in a sick funny kind of way…

Walter
Guest
Walter
4 years ago
Reply to  Big Bang

8 year olds, Dude.

Erik
Guest
Erik
4 years ago

Who remember z the phone in the woods by the Harris store.?there use to be only crank phones on Three or four of the old old Homesteads ..when they would ring they all would ring and yeah you could ease drop. Yeah the good old day..🤙

Big Bang
Guest
4 years ago

I’m not a dude, dude…