Pink Cocaine Tusi. Tusibi. The Party Drug Thats Popping Up Everywhere Is Still a Big Mystery

“When people are seeking pink cocaine and they think they’re buying pink cocaine, they’re actually buying a drug that’s laced with fentanyl and they have no idea and they’re overdosing and dying,” Tarantino said. “Sometimes it has cocaine in the mix, but it’s typically more of a ketamine concoction,” Palamar said. A recreational drug called “pink cocaine” is getting attention and causing confusion since it doesn’t typically contain cocaine.

NEW YORK – “Tusi,” better known as “pink cocaine,” is popping up in nightclubs from coast to coast. Contents of pink powder submissions labeled as tusi or 2C-B in the US,… The tusi phenomenon complicates the drug landscape because it has the potential to confuse both people who use it and researchers alike. However, despite its name, the concoction rarely contains 2C series drugs. Pink cocaine often contains ketamine and MDMA, but it’s hard to know for sure without lab testing. Some people report lasting mental health effects, like anxiety or depression, after using it.

And that’s kind of the same theory with pink cocaine. “Our goal is to know what drugs are out there, what drug combinations there are, what people are using, what’s new and emerging, what’s going away,” he says. Alex Krotulski, another researcher and forensic toxicologist, told Vanity Fair that he’s even heard rumors of people using Kool-Aid to give their mixtures that distinctive rosy hue.

“Don’t play with this stuff… It’s a powerful substance.”

People using may think the drug is 2C/2C-B, and they may also be unaware that the concoction tends to consist of ketamine and a wide variety of other drugs. If you plan to use pink cocaine or are around people who do, consider carrying naloxone. At-home test strips or reagent testing kits may not be able to detect the full scope of substances included in the mix. It’s an unreliable mix of powdered substances that vary from batch to batch. According to a UN drugs report on the rise of the illegal ketamine trade published this week, this year tusi has been spotted at a music festival in the UK, and also in Austria and Switzerland.

More from CBS News

Krotulski, who is the director of toxicology and chemistry at the Center for Forensic Science Research Education, spends his time analyzing samples of all kinds—“pills, powders, plant materials, biological samples, blood, urine, saliva, anything you can imagine”—to decode their drug contents. Ketamine should be the main drug in it, so if you have access to ketamine, then you could probably make it. Think “a rose by any other name,” but inside out and about drugs. More recently, New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs was caught on video over Memorial Day weekend aboard a yacht flashing baggies of an unidentified pink powder and referring to himself as “Mr. Regardless of how dangerous the mixture is, the bright candy color and the cheap price are appealing to many potential users. The bright-colored powder has been gaining popularity among the nightlife scene in New York City because of its low price.

  • The problem is that there’s no way to know what other drugs or chemicals are inside “pink cocaine.”
  • Because the drug usually contains a mix of uppers and downers, it is sometimes called a speedball.
  • Those unknowns — about the substance and the high — pushed Frank Tarantino, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency in New York, to issue an urgent warning to CBS News New York.
  • Before 2019, the NGO, which tests drugs sent in by the public, received only a handful of drug samples it identified as tusi, but in the last three years it has received 150.
  • Naloxone won’t affect people who don’t have opioids in their system, so it’s safe to use “just in case.”

It’s a candy-colored designer drug with a catchy name that has been linked to several drug busts – even in a lawsuit against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. Unintentional exposure to its contents can lead to increased risk of adverse effects. It was perhaps inevitable the drug would start to pop up in Spain, the European country with the closest links to Colombia’s drug world. “This drug is connected to the neo-drug trafficker culture in Colombia,” Julian Quintero, a sociologist and researcher at Social Technical Action, a Colombian drug policy NGO, told VICE World News.

Pink Cocaine Harm Reduction

Tusi was introduced to Colombia by upper-class young people from Medellín who brought it from Europe.

The anonymous user who spoke to CBS News said she has found fentanyl in her own supply. Those unknowns — about the substance and the high — pushed Frank Tarantino, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency in New York, to issue an urgent warning to CBS News New York. Nearly 80,000 Americans have died from poisonings linked to carfentanyl in the past two years, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse. “That was the first time that I heard of large batches being imported into the U.S. as tusi,” Palamar said.

What is ‘tusi’, ‘pink cocaine’? The colorful new designer drug that’s taking over

Like with other drugs of abuse, you may develop an addiction and tolerance (meaning you need more to have the same high). Pink cocaine often includes both stimulants and depressants. But despite the name, this drug isn’t just colorful cocaine. New batches hardly ever have 2C drugs in them. The drug, which originally came from Colombia, has grown in popularity in the U.S. and other regions around the world.

Pink cocaine linked to Florida overdose deaths

“Pink cocaine” gained even more popularity when it was mentioned in a civil lawsuit against Sean Diddy Combs as one of the disgraced mogul’s alleged drugs of choice. A new party drug from Latin America has made its way to the U.S. ‘Tusi,’ better known as “pink cocaine,” is popping up in nightclubs from coast to coast. The tusi phenomenon also has the potential to complicate drug research as unknown exposure to drugs like ketamine and MDMA will lead to underreporting of use.

  • Krotulski, too, pointed out the ephemeral nature of drug cocktails and trends, and the unknowability of what that powder actually is in the moment, due to the nature of recreational drugs.
  • Many Americans have only recently learned of the drug known as “pink cocaine” from a deluge of celebrity horror stories.
  • Try a small amount of pink cocaine.
  • This context created an environment conducive to recreational drug use, in which tusi became an attractive option due to its appearance and perceived effects.

MeSH terms

But there’s not enough research to know if suppliers commonly put this powerful painkiller in pink cocaine. They make you feel like drugs that already exist, such as cannabis and cocaine. Pink cocaine hasn’t been around very long, so researchers don’t know much about the long-term effects it may have on people who use it. Because the drug usually contains a mix of uppers and downers, it is sometimes called a speedball.

In this week’s episode of Street Soldiers, Lisa Evers finds out why the new drug is getting so popular. Both researchers and people at risk for use need to be informed about this new concoction. Naloxone won’t affect people who don’t have opioids in their system, so it’s safe to use “just in case.” And if the mix contains fentanyl — a powerful opioid — even a small amount can lead to death. When ketamine or tranquilizers are present, the drug can slow your breathing and impair your coordination.

Latin America

Pure cocaine is a stimulant drug made from the coca plant. Pink cocaine is an illegal substance. They can refer you to a mental health professional who tootsie drug pink can help address your substance use disorder.

Possessing cocaine in Florida can lead to severe penalties. The increase in these deaths has highlighted the alarming spread of the dangerous drug in the area. The discovery followed an incident that raised concerns about his health and well-being. Despite its name, it rarely contains actual cocaine. It’s an illicit, recreational drug that can be addictive.

The problem is that there’s no way to know what other drugs or chemicals are inside “pink cocaine.” A drug concoction called tusi has emerged in Latin America and in Europe and is now beginning to acquire popularity in the United States. “Contrary to the belief that “pink cocaine” is a drug of the elites, used by models and rich people, this product is being used by people from every level,” said Claudio Vidal, a director at Energy Control. The pink powder, dyed with food colouring to make it stand out from other powders and usually smelling of strawberry, was called “tusi” because it contained the psychedelic drug 2CB. A spokesperson said its policies ban the buying or selling drugs, and most conversations on its message boards are warning other Reddit users about pink cocaine.

This summer, a false scare story spread on social media alleged that a batch of tusi laced with fentanyl had been causing a spate of overdoses on the island.. Pink cocaine is usually either ingested in pill form or snorted as a powder. Similar trends emerged with carfentanyl, a synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than its lethal sister-drug fentanyl.

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