What Is Pink Cocaine (Tusi)? Side Effects, Dangers, and Treatment

A dyed powder called “tusi” or “pink cocaine” is emerging as a dangerous and increasingly popular party drug in major U.S. cities. Despite the name, tusi rarely contains actual cocaine. Instead, it’s often a mix of substances like ketamine, MDMA, or methamphetamine—making it both cheaper to produce and its effects far more unpredictable.

With unknown ingredients and potentially life-threatening side effects, understanding the risks of tusi is essential. In this article, we’ll explain what tusi is, how it affects the brain and body, and what treatment options are available for pink cocaine addiction.

If you or someone you know is at risk, read on to learn how recovery is possible.

What Is Tusi?

Tusi, also called pink cocaine, is a powdered mixture often containing ketamine and other psychoactive substances like 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), methamphetamine, cocaine, opioids, or other similar substances.1 The distinct pink color comes from adding pink food coloring to the drug cocktail.  Originally, tusi was slang for the synthetic hallucinogenic drug 2C-B, first synthesized by drug pioneer Alexander Shulgin as an aid during therapy.2 However, the substance was popularized as a recreational drug that would eventually be mixed with stimulants in Latin American around 2018.3

What Does Tusi Look Like?

Tusi can come in several different forms, including1:
  • Powder: the most common form, often snorted
  • Tablets: pressed pills for oral use
  • Liquid or solvent: occasionally found in vials or droppers
Users easily recognize the drug by its signature pink dye, which gives it its street name: pink cocaine.
Pink cocaine in powder form

How Tusi Affects the Brain and BodyHow Tusi Affects the Brain and Body

Because it is nearly impossible to know what substances are mixed into a dose of tusi, it is difficult for people who use the drug to know how it will affect them. The drug often contains ketamine, which is a psychedelic drug that can have adverse effects. The substance may contain stimulants like cocaine, methamphetamine, and MDMA to speed up the central nervous system. The stimulant effects can increases alertness, raises heart rate, and reduces inhibitions.4 Opioids and depressants in tusi can create euphoric effects, drowsiness, and decrease a person’s heart rate and breathing.4
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Understanding Tusi Addiction

Who Is Using Tusi?

People in the club scene in major U.S. cities such as Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas primarily use Tusi. Its popularity stems from its stimulant and hallucinogenic effects, vibrant pink color, and availability in nightlife settings like clubs, raves, and music festivals.

How Is Tusi Used?

People typically use tusi by insufflation (snorting), often using metal spoons or fingernails, similar to traditional cocaine use. Distributors frequently package pink cocaine in unmarked baggies, with its vivid dyed pink color making it visually distinctive.

Tusi commonly contains MDMA, ketamine, and cocaine. However, its exact composition remains unknown. The ingredients can change from one dealer to another, making it hard to know what users are actually taking.

Users often take the substance to maintain high energy levels and euphoria, especially in environments where they also consume alcohol, ecstasy, or other substances. Users often go back for repeated doses throughout the night, increasing the risk of addiction, dangerous interactions, and overdose.

Can You Tell If Someone Is Using Tusi?

Because the tusi contains a mixture of unknown substances and is often used with other drugs and alcohol, it produces varying effects from person to person. While some may appear highly energetic or euphoric, others may show signs of confusion, agitation, or even sedation.

The Difference Between Cocaine and Pink Cocaine

Despite cocaine being in the name, pink cocaine rarely contains any. Instead, the drug is a mixture of multiple substances to create a powerful hallucinogenic effect. Tusi rarely comes pure and dealers often mix it with two or more substances, making its effects unpredictable.

Cocaine is a powder simulator that affects the central nervous system to produce a powerful, short-lasting euphoric feeling by increasing the levels of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin in the brain. Unlike pink cocaine, cocaine is more consistent in its composition and effects. However, dealers can cut the drug with other substances like fentanyl.

The main differences between cocaine and pink cocaine are: 

  • Chemical composition
  • Effects and experiences
  • Duration
  • Risks and side effects
  • Potential for addiction

The Side Effects of Tusi

The side effects of pink cocaine vary based on the substances in the mixture and the amount a person uses.

Potential side effects can include:

  • Confusion
  • Hallucinations
  • Nausea
  • Agitation
  • High blood pressure
  • Troubles breathing
  • Low body temperature
  • Seizures 
  • Another possible side effect is excited delirium, which may cause a person to go into cardiac arrest.

The Dangers of Tusi

Tusi is dangerous because people do not know what substances they are snorting or ingesting. The unknown combination of drugs can cause side effects that are uncomfortable, harmful, and life-threatening.

Many of the substances commonly found in the drug increase the risk of developing a mental and physical dependence (addiction). A person with tusi addiction may experience a variety of withdrawal symptoms that make it harder to stop using.

  • Addiction: The drugs commonly found in pink cocaine are highly addictive, increasing the chances of developing a mental and physical dependence to the substance.
  • Overdose: Because the ingredients are unknown, it’s impossible to tell how strong the drug is, making overdose more likely.
  • Strain on the heart: The stimulants in some mixtures of the drug can put stress on the heart, leading to health issues like cardiac arrest. 

Mental health effects: The hallucinogenic effects of the drug can lead to paranoia, severe anxiety, and hallucinations.

Tusi Death: Fatalities and Overdose Rates

Overdosing on tusi is a significant risk due to its unpredictable and often toxic composition. The drug’s contents vary by batch, frequently including potent substances like ketamine, MDMA, methamphetamine, or opioids. These combinations can interact dangerously, making it difficult to gauge strength or effects, and significantly increasing the risk of overdose. Tusi has been linked to several high-profile incidents:
  • Liam Payne: The former One Direction singer allegedly had tusi in his system when he fell to his death from a hotel balcony.6
  • Maecee Marie Lathers: This Instagram influencer reportedly had tusi in her system during a fatal car crash that resulted in two deaths.7
Due to underreporting and the clandestine nature of synthetic drugs, the full scope of tusi-related fatalities remains unclear. However, its dangers are real and growing. Fortunately, addiction treatment programs tailored to synthetic drug use are available and can support lasting recovery.

Tusi Addiction Treatment Programs in California

Tree House Recovery offers comprehensive treatment programs for drug and alcohol addiction. Our therapies help clients recover from the unique challenges posed by synthetic drugs like tusi.

Our outpatient programs at our California rehab can support long-term recovery after completing detox or inpatient/residential treatment. Some elements of our program that are highly relevant to treating the long-term effects of tusi include:

  • One-on-One Therapy: Individual counseling can help people understand the patterns of use and triggers while building coping skills in a safe space tailored to their personalized recovery plan.
  • Mindfulness-Based Therapies: These therapies can help regulate emotions and impulse control, rewrite stress responses, and help people reconnect with their bodies to support long-term recovery. 
  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR): EMDR is especially effective in treating the traumatic experiences or emotional disturbances that often co-occur with addiction rather than the addiction itself.
  • Fitness Therapy (Exercise-Based Therapy): EBT is beneficial for tusi addiction treatment because it helps regulate mood, reduce stress and drug cravings, and improve sleep and energy. 

Every recovery journey is unique. Our admissions team is here to assess your needs and match you with therapies that support lasting change. Call us today to begin your path to healing.

FAQs About Pink Cocaine

No. Tusi often contains Schedule I drugs, meaning it has no accepted medical use in the United States and has high abuse potential. Federal law prohibits individuals from possessing any Schedule I substance—such as heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), methaqualone, or peyote.

No. U.S. authorities have classified tusi as having no medical use in treatment.

Other names for tusi are8:
  • Pink cocaine
  • Tuci
  • Tucib
  • Tussi
  • 2C

Pink cocaine can be addictive. The substances often found in the drug carry a high risk of addiction and pose significant health risks.

Find Tusi Addiction Treatment in California

If you or someone you know is struggling with pink cocaine addiction, you are not alone. Our California rehab center provides personalized tusi addiction treatment, resources, and support from experienced counselors — many with lived experience — to help rebuild your mental, physical, and social health.

Whether you’re seeking outpatient support or continuing care after detox, we’re here to guide you every step of the way. Call (855) 202-2138 today to speak with our admissions team and begin your recovery journey in California.

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Updated June 4, 2025

  1. What is Pink Cocaine? United States Drug Enforcement Administration. Accessed May 22, 2025. https://www.dea.gov/pink-cocaine. 
  2. Schmall E. What Is ‘Pink Cocaine’? The New York Times. October 21, 2024. Accessed May 22, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/21/well/what-is-pink-cocaine.html. 
  3. Moreno MD, Ayala NA, Estrada Y, Morris V, Quintero J. Échele Cabeza as a harm reduction project and activist movement in Colombia. Drugs, Habits and Social Policy. November 24, 2022. Accessed May 23, 2025. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/dhs-07-2022-0026/full/html. 
  4. Drug Enforcement Administration National Drug Threat Assessment 2024. United States Drug Enforcement Administration. May 2024. Accessed May 22, 2025. https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/NDTA_2024.pdf. 
  5. Drugs A to Z. National Institutes of Health. April 10, 2025. Accessed May 22, 2025. https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/drugs-a-to-z. 
  6. Quinn L. Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Employees Were Required to Carry Pink Cocaine, Drug Found in Liam Payne’s System: Complaint. People. October 23, 2024. Accessed May 22, 2025. https://people.com/sean-combs-employees-forced-carry-pink-cocaine-complaint-8732944. 
  7. WPLG Local 10. Model Charged in Deadly Miami ‘Pink Cocaine’ Crash Will Remain Jailed. YouTube. September 16, 2024. Accessed May 22, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqlbKHfgILw. 
  8. Palamar JJ. Tusi: A New Ketamine Concoction Complicating the Drug Landscape. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. May 10, 2023. Accessed May 22, 2025. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10636235/. 
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