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The article presents the results of an original research carried out among Czech consumers, distributors and producers of narcotics and psychoactive substances. The research was based on a questionnaire whose primary aim was to gather authentic linguistic material used in the contemporary Czech drug scene; the respondents were clients of contact centres, patients at psychiatric hospitals, and persons serving custodial sentences in specialist facilities for drug addicts. The research sought to establish whether the language used by members of the drug subculture performs a cryptic function. The article evaluates the responses collected and analyzes the correlation between the cryptic use of language and the age/education of individuals who have personal experience of the production and (ab)use of narcotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]