Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US prison) a hand-rolled cigarette.

1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1963		Ubyssey 11 Oct. 5/1: Wrapped in the top-quality cigarette paper [...] a ‘rollie.’.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 265: I took out a bag of rollies (Bull Durham) and rolled one and offered it to him.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 13: Cadgers normally ask for things that don’t really matter, i.e., ‘Can I cadge a rollie?’.
1995		I. Rankin Let It Bleed 53: Used to smoke rollies.
2000		N. Barlay Crumple Zone 15: Ten baby mothers, four tattooed doleboys puffing rollies [...] and thirty tooled up brats.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 155/2: rollien. 2 a marijuana joint .
2004		T. Winton ‘Boner McPharlin’s Moll’ in Turning (2005) 265: A rolly cupped in his palm.
2007		D. McDonald Luck in the Greater West (2008) 5: Pete lived on cask wine and rollies.
2010		Sun. Times 19 Dec. 12/5: They sent him from Hendon [police training centre] to spend five years smoking rollies and living in a tent.
2011		G. Knight Hood Rat 114: His tiny black pupils stared back at the younger man, as he pumped on a roly.
2011		G. Hayward Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 26: Flocko [...] breaks the pouch [of tobacco] down into little cigarettes called rollies, which he can get up to $20 per.
2012		L. Redhead ‘Grassed’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] Ananda sat cross-legged [...] a rollie dangling from her mouth.
2014		T. Black Artefacts of the Dead [ebook] Yellowed with nicotine,. I’d say he was a rollie smoker.
2016		Guardian 27 Oct. 🌐 They are smoking liquorice-flavoured rollies and supping on half-pints of lager.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] Haris is working his way through a rollie.
2020		D. Whish-Wilson Shore Leave 46: Ryan finished with his makings [...] and gave fire to the racehorse-thin rollie.
2021		Betoota-isms 125: Riverina Rollie [...] 1. Cannabis, marijuana.

2. (Aus./N.Z. drugs) a tablet of Rohypnol.

1990		Sydney Morn. Herald 31 May 1/4: When you can’t get heroin, you get rollies.
1998		R. Bungay Scarecrows 44: I took a couple of digesics [...] from the receptionist hoping they would calm me down but they didn’t so she gave me a rollie.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 155/2: rollien. 1 (also rolie) a shortened altered form of Rohypnol, a proprietary name for flunitrazepam, a sleeping tablet 2 a marijuana joint .