What you need to know: Tusi, 2C or pink cocaine

With preliminary reports showing that One Direction’s Liam Payne had a drug called pink cocaine in his system when he died, many may be wondering what the drug is and how it got the name.

Is pink cocaine a type of cocaine?

When you first hear the name “pink cocaine,” you might think it is a derivative of regular cocaine. It is not. Despite the name “pink cocaine,” it usually does not contain the drug. The Drug Enforcement Administration said it “should not be confused for or considered a replacement for cocaine” since it is a psychedelic drug, while cocaine is a stimulant.

If it doesn’t have cocaine, what is in it?

It’s actually a mix of drugs, typically ketamine, MDMA, methamphetamine and other psychoactive substances. Sometimes, however, there have been samples that have cocaine and opioids in the mix, the National Institutes of Health said last year.

Pink cocaine, or 2C-B, “is a psychedelic phenylethylamine derivative,” according to Recovered.org. It comes from mescaline and has bromine added.

What other names is the drug known by?

Known as pink cocaine, the mixture of drugs also goes by the name “Tusi,” or the phonetic translation of “2C,” a type of drug classification, the NIH said.

Other names it’s known by include “Venus,” “Eros,” “Nexus” or “2C-B,” the Drug Enforcement Agency said in its 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment.

Recovered.org lists other common names:

2-CE
2-CI
2-CP
2-CT
7-UP
Seventh-Heaven
T-7 or Tripstacy
Tussi
Bromo
Toonies
Performax
2S
Spectrum
Utopia

What form does it come in? How is it used?

Typically, “pink cocaine” comes in powder form that is dyed pink with food coloring. It can be snorted as a powder or ingested orally in pill form, the DEA said. It usually is not injected. The National Capital Poison Control Center said it may have a strawberry or other flavoring added. It is usually “used by young people in the club scene.”

When snorted, the 2C drugs have a smell and taste similar to gasoline. If snorted it has a burning sensation, but when taken in pill form, there is little to no taste or smell, Recovered.org said.

Depending on the amount injected and the mix that was created, the effects of the drugs can range from “a sense of openness, sociability, and euphoria” to “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,” the Poison Control Center said.

The main effect is similar to MDMA or LSD, Recovered.org said.

What is the typical cost?

A pill of 2C-B can be between $10 and $30 on the street while a gram of powder, purchased online, can be between $100 and $300, according to the DEA and Recovered.org.