Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. marijuana.

1938		D. Maurer ‘Lang. of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 2 in Lang. Und. (1981) 103/1: goof-ball. Marijuana.
1957		E. & S. Deak Grand Dictionnaire d’Americanismes.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.

2. (drugs) a barbiturate, a tranquillizer; thus goofballed, under the influence of barbiturates.

1944		Story Mag. 25-6 75: Better to sit with Winos, smoke-drinkers, and goof-ball eaters than walk alone with the horribly real phantoms of his own mind.
1948		W. Burroughs letter 30 Nov. in Harris (1993) 25: I hope to rid myself of the habit in the course of this trip. Taking along a pint of P.G. and a large supply of goof balls to taper off.
1949		Forensic of Pi Kappa Delta Oct. 4: She used to dazzle my rather naive mind with her talk about her dates. . . the lush and goof ball sprees and petting parties. Now ‘petting parties’ is understandable, but what are ‘lush and goof ball sprees’?
1952		Kerouac letter 9 Dec. in Charters I (1995) 385: Also I am stocked on goofballs, bennies, a little laudanum.
1964		Larner & Tefferteller Addict in the Street (1966) 131: I was taking goofballs, and instead of drinking them down, I was shooting them up in the vein.
1972		E. Grogan Ringolevio 46: Both of them were goofballed out of their faces.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 236: Staring at the goofballs in my hand I could envisage the police trying to shake them awake.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Florence’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 200: I shook her [...] asking if she had taken goofballs.
1981		D.E. Miller Bk of Jargon 337: goofballs, goofers: Barbiturates or sedatives.
1996		(con. 1948) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 114: She liked those pills I was gettin’ for her. Nembutols. You know, goofballs.
2007		T. Dorsey Hurricane Punch 19: Would this go more jake if I just gave you the goofballs I was going to plant.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 14: He scored prescription goofballs from a Chink.

3. a sleeping pill.

1956

‘Ed Lacy’ Men from the Boys (1967) 44: ‘I got some sleeping pills here. Two — enough to knock you out.’ ‘I never fooled with goof balls.’.

4. (Aus./US) a knockout drop.

1955

Mad mag. July 36: You thought to slip the old goof ball to your erstwhile spouse.

5. (drugs) cocaine and heroin.

1969		R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970).
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 122: Tyrone and Leroy fuck with them goofballs, not me!
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 10: Goofball — Cocaine mixed with heroin.