'Pink cocaine': What is it and how is it linked to Liam Payne and Sean (Diddy) Combs?

Drug and addiction experts are raising alarms about a party-drug concoction that One Direction singer Liam Payne may have taken prior to his death. 

ABC News and other outlets have reported that partial autopsy and toxicology results showed the pop star had "pink cocaine" in his system, along with other drugs, when he fell to his death from a balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires last week.

Argentine prosecutors said Payne had consumed alcohol and drugs before being killed by injuries from his fall, and that the lack of defensive injuries on his hands indicated he may have been unconscious or semi-conscious when it happened.

The final toxicology report is expected to take several weeks. 

'You don't really know what's in it': researcher

Pink cocaine, also known as "tusi," is a mix of illicit drugs, usually containing ketamine and some combination of methamphetamine, MDMA, cocaine, opioids or other psychoactive substances.

It sparked interest earlier this month after a civil lawsuit filed against Sean (Diddy) Combs claimed it was a drug of choice for the rapper, who is facing sex trafficking charges and allegations of sexual abuse. 

Pink cocaine is typically sold in powder form, coloured pink with dye, and usually ingested by snorting. It typically contains little, if any, cocaine, which experts say adds to its danger.

"I worry about the misnomer," said Joseph Palamar, an associate professor at New York University who researches party drugs and authored a 2023 research paper about pink cocaine. "I worry that people think that pink cocaine is cocaine, which it is not. It's a pretty pink powder, it's a mystery powder. You don't really know what's in it."

Originating in Latin America's party scenes, the concoction has made its way to the U.S. and Canada in the last few years.

The city of Sudbury, Ont., issued a warning in June about "an increase in the number of unexpected reactions" from pink cocaine use, while CBS reported earlier this month that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said the drug was being sold online and through social media apps and being abused in New York City nightclubs.

Pink cocaine becoming 'fashionable'

Palamar says pink cocaine is "becoming fashionable," comparing it to the popularity of MDMA, or "molly," in the 2000s. He attributes some of the drug's growing popularity to its pink appearance and cute names, saying "tusi" (pronounced like "two C") in particular has a similar appeal to "molly."

"It's all about advertising," he said.

That nickname originates from hallucinogenic drugs like 2C-I and 2C-B that were developed in the 1970s. Palamar says the "tusi" name may have been used initially to trick people into thinking the drug was related to the 2C class of drugs, though that reference would likely be lost on most young people who use recreational drugs today.

However, in his research, some samples of the drug were found to contain DMT and other hallucinogenic substances.

One of Palamar's biggest concerns with people buying a mysterious mixture of drugs is that fentanyl could wind up in the powder, making it more deadly.

He also worries that when a user is expecting the purely stimulant effect of cocaine and instead ends up with the depressant effects of ketamine, they can end up in a dark place — particularly if they are looking to cocaine to balance out the effects of alcohol. 

"If someone gives them pink cocaine, they're going to get sick," he said. "They might wind up puking. They're going to be even more drunk. They'll probably fall into a dissociative state. It'll be the opposite of doing actual cocaine."

Drug cocktail can lead to 'very erratic behaviour'

Michelle Arnot, a pharmacology and toxicology professor at the University of Toronto, says mixing different types of drugs — comparable to a "speedball," which traditionally mixes cocaine and heroin — can amplify the potential for hallucinations and erratic behaviour.

Arnot says the stimulants can increase the brain chemicals responsible for fight-or-flight response. This becomes especially dangerous when paired with ketamine, which may make the user dissociate, and hallucinogens, which increase sensory perception.

"You get this interaction of all of these different drugs' effects all at the same time, which can then lead to very erratic behaviour — maybe not even thinking that what you're seeing is actually happening to you, but it's happening to someone else — and then you go and do things that may not be safe or what you would normally do," she said.

Another risk is that the stimulant effect might wear off before the depressant effects, Arnot says, leaving someone in a state of respiratory depression and potential overdose later in their trip. She says it's important for anyone who might be around these drugs to always have a naloxone kit available, given the possibility of opioids being in the mix.

Arnot says the risks of using pink cocaine are typical of today's drug market, where uncertainty is a hallmark of anything sold on the street. Results from drug-testing services in Canada show even drugs sold as straight cocaine, for example, contain everything from caffeine to phenacetin to animal tranquilizers and dewormers, she said.

Nicholas Boyce, policy director with the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, which advocates for the legalization and regulation of illicit drugs, says the emergence of pink cocaine is part of an ongoing problem with an unregulated drug supply that has only gotten more toxic and dangerous in recent years.

Boyce and Arnot both say it's important for anyone considering using pink cocaine to understand that they don't know what is really being sold to them. If someone decides to use despite the hazards, they both suggest using a drug-testing service to determine which drugs are present, and only using it in a safe space, in the presence of someone who is not using at the same time.

"Every time we crack down on one thing, or one set of precursor drugs, we get new things that pop up again," Boyce said. "It's because we keep attacking the supply and not the demand."