CRANK VERB (DRUGS)

In the slang of drug users in the UK: to inject (a drug). Often as a phrasal verb crank up. Etymology: A figurative use of the verb which normally means 'to start a motor by turning the crank'; a synonym in drugs slang for jack (up), which follows a similar type of metaphor. History and Usage: A word which has been used by drug users in the UK since about the beginning of the seventies, crank seems to be a rare example of a piece of drugs slang which is exclusively British. US drugs slang has crank as a noun for methamphetamine and cranking for repeated use of methamphetamine, but the verb is apparently not used at all. In Britain, it is normally used in the context of heroin injection. 'Where do you inject?' 'Me feet, me arms, me hands.' 'Would you give up cranking?' 'No, it's the needle I'm into.' Sunday Telegraph 29 Oct. 1989, p. 15