Devil's Lettuce

Devil's Lettuce

Devil's lettuce is an ironic slang term for cannabis. The phrase plays on the dramatic warnings of old anti-cannabis campaigns, where the plant was portrayed as something evil and dangerous, and turns that tone into a joke.

More about Devil's Lettuce

The humor lies in the contrast. "Lettuce" points to something green, leafy and harmless, while "the devil's" borrows the exaggerated moral language of the past. Together, the two words make fun of the idea that a plant could be the work of the devil.

The term is almost always used with a wink, and often in an over-the-top, mock-serious tone. It belongs to the same playful side of cannabis slang as sticky icky and zaza, where the fun of the word matters as much as its meaning.

The history behind the joke

In the 1930s, the US Federal Bureau of Narcotics, led by Harry Anslinger, ran an intense campaign against cannabis. Films such as Reefer Madness from 1936 and Devil's Harvest from 1942 presented the plant as a direct path to ruin, and cannabis was often described in almost religious terms as a threat to society. The campaign also contributed to the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which hit the cultivation of hemp hard as well.

Decades later, those films became cult classics, watched mostly for their unintentional comedy. Devil's lettuce grew out of that ironic distance and spread widely as an internet meme in the 2010s, especially on social media.