Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. an opium pill, taken orally.

1931–4

D. Clemmer Prison Community (1940) 335/2: speed ball, n. Gum opium rolled into a pill and placed under the tongue; sometimes refers to mixture of morphine, heroin, and cocaine.

2. (drugs) a dose of a narcotic.

1905		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 76: (Man injecting racehorse with a giant syringe marked ‘Hop’:) And the original ‘Speed ball’.
1931		G. Milburn ‘Convicts’ Jargon’ in AS VI:6 441: speed ball, n. A shot of dope.
1933		D. Maurer ‘Junker Lingo’ in AS VIII:2 28: The injection itself, immediately after being introduced, is called a speed-ball.
1934		Weseen Dict. Amer. Sl. 38: [Crooks and Criminals] Speed ball – An injection of dope.

3. (drugs) a mixture of a ‘fast’ and a ‘slow’ drug; usu. cocaine and heroin and/or morphine, either injected or sniffed by the user; occas. Methedrine and heroin; see also cite 1986 for other blends; also attrib.

1931–4		see sense 1.
1937		B. Dai Opium Addiction in Chicago 203: Speed-ball. A combination of cocaine and morphine.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 213: I’ve seen ’em shootin’ speedballs — half a cap of C ’n half a cap of H together.
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 142: A shot of morphine would be nice [...] or, better, a speedball, half cocaine, half morphine.
1956		‘Raymond Thorp’ Viper 172: To get high he needed a ‘speedball’ - a mixture of heroin and cocaine.
1959		Murtagh & Harris Who Live In Shadow (1960) 88: They sell heroin, cocaine, ‘speedballs’ which contain both these drugs.
1966		J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 43: Cocaine and bombitas are both stimulants, and combined with heroin, a depressant, they produce an electrifying ‘rush’ or ‘flash’ far more pleasurable to the addict than heroin alone. The mixture is called a speedball.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 78: I hung up and cooked a ‘C’ and ‘H’ speedball stew for breakfast.
1986		J. Ellroy Suicide Hill 10: One night they fashioned a speedball out of pharmacy meth and Percodan and slipped it in his coffee [ibid] 191: I took a Dilaudid Black Beauty speedball [. . .] and I'm starting to crash’ [ibid.] 239: [T]he perk/dexie speedballs he'd eaten just before the one-on-one with the cop kept the pain down and juice in his system.
1989		(con. 1950s) Courtwright & Des Jarlais Addicts Who Survived 116: When I started shooting speedballs, that caused a problem. I had to go in in different places, because coke collapses in your vein.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 7: Johnny often snorted some coke wi his fix or mixed up a speedball concoction ay smack and cocaine.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 77: We’ve all been slamming meth and heroin speedballs.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 15: Meth speed ball — Methamphetamine combined with heroin. [Ibid.] 20: Speedball — Cocaine mixed with heroin; crack and heroin smoked together; methylphenidate (ritalin) mixed with heroin.
c.2003		D. Vrij ‘Tying Off’ on Inter-zone.org 🌐 Adding cola to the mix, adds a dimension of space. Its a rush drug, pure and simple, any time any where, a speedball junkie can find a place for a coke hit.
2008		Simon & Zorzi ‘Unconfirmed Reports’ Wire ser. 5 ep. 2 [TV script] He fires up a speedball and then blacks out.
2010		K. Richards Life 257: We snorted [heroin] for a year or two, along with pure cocaine. Speedballs.
2010		K. Richards Life 259: I have no clear recollection of the first time I had heroin. It was probably slipped in with a line of coke in a speedball - a mixture of coke and smack.
2021		T. Swerdlow Straight Dope [ebook] — You’re doing a speedball?

4. (US) a glass of wine, strengthened by a shot of spirits.

1926		N. Klein ‘Hobo Lingo’ in AS I:12 653: Speed-balls—wine.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 178: Speed Ball.–A glass of wine, more especially when ‘doped’ or made stronger by the addition of some alcohol, ether or strong spirits. Before prohibition a ‘speed ball’ was a glass of port wine, upon which had been floated an ounce or two of ether, one glass of this mixture being sufficient to intoxicate the drinker in a short time.
1964		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 146: She shot a speedball toddy and fell out at the party.

5. a mixture of valium and marijuana.

1989

(con. 1950s–60s) in G. Tremlett Little Legs 197: speedball a drug cocktail, usually containing both Valium and marijuana.

6. (US drugs) a mixture of crack cocaine and heroin.

1989

Hartford Courant (CT) 1 Sept. A10/1: [M]oon rock or speedball [is] a combination of crack and heroin.

7. (drugs) amphetamine.

1990		R. Campbell Sweet La-La Land (1999) 145: ‘What drugs?’ ‘The yellow jackets. The bennies. Whatever. The speedballs.’.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 20: Speedball — [...] amphetamine.