Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) a fit, usu. occasioned by drug withdrawal or alcoholic excess.

1925		D. Hammett ‘Corkscrew’ Story Omnibus (1966) 231: He’s going to throw a joe on you, chief, if you don’t give him a pill.
1931		Hammett Glass Key 503: Ned Beaumont’s body and arms and legs jerked convulsively [...] After that he lay still. Jeff s [...] growled, [...] ‘It ain’t no good now. He’s throwed another joe’.