Dreamed about a reefer five feet long / Mighty Mezz, but not too strong / You'll be high but not for long / If you're a viper
1938 March 12, “Tea for a Viper”, in New Yorker[1], page 49:
They said reefers only make them happy. They didn't know a single viper who was vicious or mad.
1948, H. L. Mencken, The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States; Supplement II, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, page 681:
A marihuana smoker is a viper, tea-man or reefing-man, a cigarette is a reefer, stick, killer, goof-but, giggle-smoke, gyve or twist, smoking is viping or sending, a place devoted to sending is a pad and a peddler is a pusher.
[1952, William Dienstein, “Viper”, in Technics for the Crime Investigator, Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, page 208:
client or purchaser of marihuana]
[1954, David W. Maurer, Victor H. Vogel, “Viper”, in Narcotics and Narcotic Addiction, Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, page 290:
