Origin of the slang "roach" (marijuana)?

Question

I remember reading a section of Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" years ago. In it, Duke and his attorney attend a police convention. The truly misinformed cops tell their fellow officers that butts from joints are called "roaches" because of their resemblence to a cockroach!!! Although this explanation is indeed hilarious, it's an obvious untruth. So, that got me wondering where the slang "roach" originated! Anyone know for sure, and why did it end up with that name?!

Answer 1

Okay, sit back with a cup of coffee and relax whilst I try to condense a long answer for you.

Marijuana gave rise to it's various forms as Mary Joanne or Mary Jane, believed to be a slang form of Merry Jo and ..
the term is believed to have originated in Mexico ..
Mary Jo may be a reference to the elated feeling on using the substance and the prayers to "Mary and Joseph" .. there is no substantiated proof for this, it is annecdotal ..

with me so far?

okay, Mexico is south of the border to USA .. old Americans (18th 19th Century) referred to anything below anything else (such as a table or furniture and, later, the border) as cockroaches .. an abbreviation of which is 'roaches'

Having smoked a 'joint' the butt (which is never thrown away, it's too expensive to waste) is a small portion of a thing .. the small portion of cockroach is 'roach' ..
Here, in Auystralia, we have friendly but heated rivalry between our States of Queensland (where I live) New South Wales and Victoria we are called, in order

Qld = Cane toads = we are overrun with the brutes

NSW = Cockroaches = they are overrun with the brutes

Vic = Mexicans. they come from way south of the border

there is nothing insulting in these terms, well not serious, since we Australians generally use mild insults as a sign of very strong friendship, much as the way I have friends in USA whom I refer to as "Septics" (from "septic tank" - Yank)
.. much Australian slang originates from Cockney rhyming slang .. such as 'me china' meaning mate from 'china plate'
and latterly Yanks are being referred to as "Harpic" (a toilet cleanser) which has a slogan of 'clean round the bend" which we consider most Yanks are (and if you take that as insulting, you've got a problem)

Answer 2

Marijuana Roach

Answer 3

I'm not sure, but let me call Uncle Sonny in CA
& I'll get back to you on that one.

Edit:
I called 6 sources from those who grew up,
in the 40s thru the 60s.
My sources range
from an aging Hell's Angel
to a very old ex-Madam from Nevada
to a former drug lord from San Berdoo, recently released from Soledad Prison on the West Coast
& a few other strange ones in between.
All sources say pretty much the same thing,
first of all they all agree,
Hunter Thompson knew way too much stuff
and anything he didn't know,
he made it up, presented it as the truth
and made it quite beliveable.
Second, that when you roll your own weed,
twist the ends as not to lose a precious bit of the stuff,
when it gets down to where,
you have to use a hat pin or
such to be able to smoke that last bit,
the butts do look like baby cockroaches,
but not the big black ones that most people
associate the word "roach",
but the small brown ones that are often referred to as "German roaches",
because of their color and striations
of cream colored spots.
Rolling papers take on these characteristics
and the butts often do look like those wretched little insects.

Answer 4

La cucaracha, la cucaracha
Ya no puede caminar
Porque no tiene, porque le falta
marihuana para fumar

English

Oh that poor cockroach, oh that poor cockroach
Now it's never gonna walk
Because it's missing, because it doesn't have,
marihuana to smoke

The reference to marijuana arose during a period of time---approximately the time of the Mexican Revolution---when the word cucaracha was also a slang term for marijuana or a marijuana cigarette stub (hence the term "roach" in American slang).

Answer 5

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RE:
Origin of the slang "roach" (marijuana)?
I remember reading a section of Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" years ago. In it, Duke and his attorney attend a police convention. The truly misinformed cops tell their fellow officers that butts from joints are called "roaches" because of their...

Answer 6

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Answer 7

thanks for the answers.