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

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  • The headline-making drug “pink cocaine” has been mentioned in the ongoing Sean “Diddy” Combs sex trafficking case and was linked to the death of One Direction star Liam Payne
  • “Pink cocaine” is a catchall term for a mixture of drugs that may or may not contain cocaine
  • It usually is made with ketamine — but as 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, “Nobody truly knows what they are using”

It’s been mentioned in a civil lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs and has been linked to the shocking death of One Direction star Liam 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.

“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,” the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration explains.  

“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 Diddy provided them with unknown substances — which she later learned contained Ketamine according to a complaint.

The embattled music mogul Diddy faces multiple lawsuits alleging he drugged and raped people as young as 13.

According to a report from The 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.

However, psychedelics — or even cocaine — aren’t always included in the powder, which the Washington Post explained is dyed pink by dealers.

And as the National Capital Poison Center cautions, “Physical and sexual assaults, as well as traumatic injuries, have occurred when people are impaired by this type of drug.” 

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 star Liam Payne, who fell to his 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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