What Exactly Is Pink Cocaine? An Expert Explains the Headline-Making Drug

Mar. 15, 2025

Left: Late One Direction star Liam Payne; Right: the headline-making drug “pink cocaine”.Photo:Ian West/PA Images via Getty; Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor in New York via AP

Ian West/PA Images via Getty; Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor in New York via AP

It’s been mentioned in a civil lawsuit againstSean “Diddy” Combsand has beenlinkedto theshocking deathofOne DirectionstarLiam Payne. But what exactly is “pink cocaine”?

For starters, it depends on the batch.

“It’s a general term that people are using recently for a mixture of substances,” Dr. Adam Berman, a toxicologist and an addiction medicine specialist who is also the associate chair of Emergency Medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, tells PEOPLE.

Bags of “pink cocaine”.JOAQUIN SARMIENTO/AFP via Getty

JOAQUIN SARMIENTO/AFP via Getty

“Sometimes it contains cocaine, but very frequently it contains very little amounts of cocaine,” he explains. “It’s usually a mix of what people would consider uppers and downers. You really don’t know what you’re getting when you are using pink cocaine.”

However, “very frequently, ketamine will be in it,” Berman tells PEOPLE. Ketamine — sometimes called Special K — is a “dissociative anesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects,” theU.S. Drug Enforcement Administrationexplains.

“Ketamine can induce a state of sedation (feeling calm and relaxed), immobility, relief from pain, and amnesia (no memory of events while under the influence of the drug)”. One victim alleged that Diddyprovided them with unknown substances— which she later learned contained Ketamine according to a complaint.

The embattled music mogulDiddyfacesmultiplelawsuits alleging hedruggedandraped people as young as 13.

Sean “Diddy” Combs.Rebecca Sapp/WireImage

Rebecca Sapp/WireImage

According to a report fromThe American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, “pink cocaine” may be combined with methamphetamine, cocaine, opioids, or other substances, The journal said it’s also known as “Tusi” — a phonetic version of “2C,” which is the classification for a certain psychedelic.

The Poison Control Center adds that the drug can “lead to long-term addiction” and has a wide-ranging list of effects — depending on what is in that particular batch.

“People use the drug to experience a sense of openness, sociability, and euphoria. Adverse effects include hallucinations, anxiety, elevated body temperature, increased heart rate and blood pressure, low sodium levels, nausea and vomiting, and rarely, seizures, abnormal heart rhythms, and coma.”

“Pink cocaine” was one of several substances uncovered in a toxicology report conducted on late One Direction starLiam Payne, who fell tohis death on Oct. 16 at age 31.

“Everyone has their tomato sauce but everyone’s tomato sauce is a little bit different — but they all call it tomato sauce,” Berman told PEOPLE.

“The biggest danger, of course, is death. It’s a fine balance between uppers and downers and if someone uses a mixture that contains more downers, so to speak, they can easily stop breathing.”

“It really is the wild west out there,” he said. “Nobody truly knows what they are using when they use anything.”

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source: people.com