snow

   1. cocaine

   In its crystalline or powdered form, from the colour and coldness:

    Not all jazz-players smoke marijuana or opium, or sniff snow. (Longstreet, 1956)

   Whence many derivatives. A snowball is a quantity or derivative of cocaine or heroin:

    Each was controlled by a mobile phone: one for heroin, two for crack and three for snowballs — a popular mix of crack and heroin. (Fiennes, 1996)

   A snowbird is a person addicted to cocaine; snowed in, under, or up, is under the influence of narcotics; a snow-storm is a gathering where cocaine is taken illegally. To be snow-blind is to become addicted to cocaine:

    But Renzo got snow-blind real bad. He began to deal, and deal heavily enough to draw attention. (Anonymous, 1996 — Renzo was not an arctic explorer or a card player)

   An addict will turn into a snowman:

    Behind his back they call him G-nose or Snowman. (Turow, 1993)

   2. deliberately to obfuscate (an issue) or deceive (a person)

   As a landscape may be obscured by a snowfall.

   To snow a person is to produce masses of documentation which will make it hard for the recipient to pick out and understand the relevant points:

    Little job? Don't let them snow you, old friend. (Price, 1970)

   Such an operation is known as a snow-job:

    A lie, a cover-up, a snow-job was fatal. (Allbeury, 1980)