Green’s Dictionary of Slang

moota n.

also mootah, mooter, mootie, mootos, muta, mutah
[Sp. mota, a clod of turf, a handful of earth, thus the link to grass n.4 . Note also weaving jargon mota, an imperfection or tangle in wool or cotton, thus the link to a ‘tangled’ mind]

(drugs) marijuana; a marijuana cigarette.

[UK]E. Stanley ‘Marihuana As A Developer Of Criminals’ n.p.: In America, particularly in the South and Southwestern portions of the United States, it is called marihuana. It is popularly known amongst the criminal element as ‘muggles’, or ‘mooter’.
[US]R.P. Walton Marihuana 30: A large number of boys and girls of school age buy and smoke ‘mootas’.
[US]D. Maurer ‘Lang. of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 2 in Lang. Und. (1981) 106/1: mutah. Marijuana.
[US] ‘Jargon of Marihuana Addicts’ in AS XV:3 Oct. 336/2: The cigarettes are usually called reefers, but other names are: [...] mootas, mooters, mooties.
[US]Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 52: Rapp smoked his muta while he played the new guitar.
[US]Anslinger & Tompkins Traffic In Narcotics 312: [...] mootie [...] moota Marihuana.
[US]E. Hunter ‘. . . Or Leave It Alone’ in Jungle Kids (1967) 58: Everybody knows mootah isn’t habit-forming.
[US]F. Newton Jazz Scene 292: muta: marijuana.
[US]J.E. Schmidt Narcotics Lingo and Lore 114: Mooter – [...] marijuana. [Ibid.] 116: Mutah – [...] marijuana.
[US]R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970) 180: moota [...] mooters [...] mootie. [Ibid.] 187: muta.
[US]Rebennack & Rummel Under A Hoodoo Moon 33: I would sit around in my room, smooking mootahs.
[US]ONDCP Street Terms 15: Moota/mutah — Marijuana [...] Mooters — Marijuana cigarette. [...] Mootie — Marijuana. [...] Mootos — Marijuana. [...] Muta — Marijuana.