Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also kick out, kick the monkey) to stop taking a drug, usu. of addictive varieties.

1938		D. Maurer ‘Lang. of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 2 in Lang. Und. (1981) 104/2: KICK. [...] To go off drugs. They threw me into a cell in the band-house and I kicked her cold-turkey.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 24: I’m kickin’ the stuff altogether this week end.
1955		E. Hunter ‘See Him Die’ in Jungle Kids (1967) 103: Nothing till he kicked the heroin monkey.
1964		Larner & Tefferteller Addict in the Street (1966) 26: It wasn’t that bad kicking, because they give you medication to calm down your sickness.
1970		John Lee Hooker ‘Kick Hit 4 Hit Kix U’ 🎵 You better try and kick it That needle is too heavy for ya.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 106: I thought maybe I ought to kick the Valium.
1984		W.D. Myers Motown and Didi 25: He [i.e. a heroin addict] had thought about kicking out cold, putting it all down at once, taking the agony and doing it.
1989		Courtwright & Des Jarlais Addicts Who Survived 63: When you’re kicking, your bowels bust, you get nauseous.
1991		Cooper & Wright New Jack City [film script] I kept telling myself I was going to kick, but I never did. I’m a junkie.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 192: Because she kicked them [i.e. valium] she now regards herself as an expert on drug rehabilitation.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 144: Keep your chin up, kid. You can kick it.
2000		C. Cook Robbers (2001) 292: I was thinking about looking him up, maybe see if I can’t get him to kick.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 138: Having kicked cold himself, he didn’t particularly think anybody else should have to.
2007		R. Milward Apples (2023) 153: I’d kicked pills [i.e. MDMA] for a bit.
2010		K. Richards Life 432: It [a rift with Mick Jagger] dated from the time i finally kicked heroin.
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] ‘It was going to be our last high [...] We were going to kick’.
2021		T. Swerdlow Straight Dope [ebook] I’m not going back to another rehab [...] I just need to get away somewhere and kick.

2. to stop any form of addiction.

1967		L. Bruce Essential Lenny Bruce 197: If you’re married seven years, you gotta kick for two.
1981		A.K. Shulman On the Stroll 135: [of an alcoholic] When her mother was trying to kick, she vomited every time she swallowed water.
1999		Indep. on Sun. Travel 11 July 4: An addiction to adventure that is hard to kick.
2004		C. Hiaasen Skinny Dip 138: Like when you try to kick caffeine, suddenly the whole damn world smells like Folger’s.