Tusi (drug)

Tusi (tuci, tucibi), also known as pink cocaine, is a recreational drug most commonly found in pink-dyed powder form that contains a mixture of different psychoactive substances.^[1][2][3] The concoction is also referred to as “pink cocaine”, as it typically circulates on the illicit market in pink powder form.^[3] Tusi is believed to have originated in Latin America around 2018. Drug-checking studies in Latin America report tusi to be a concoction of ketamine, MDMA, cocaine, methamphetamine, caffeine, opioids, and other new psychoactive substances (NPS).^[2] Existing literatures suggest tuci to have no standard proportions of the constituent drugs.^[1][2]

Authorities in New York City report that lab tested samples have very little or no cocaine. They say there are record numbers of overdoses and there is no way to know exactly what is in pink cocaine.^[4] Because the drug usually contains a mix of uppers and downers it is sometimes called a speedball.^[5]

Authorities are trying to educate potential users who may not know how different ketamine is from cocaine. Cocaine is a stimulant and ketamine is a sedative-hallucinogenic anesthetic.^[6] It does not mix well with alcohol.^[7]

The name "tusi" phonetically translates to "2C", while they may be pronounced in a similar way, tuci is not the same psychoactive substance as 2C-B (or, more broadly, the 2C family). Tuci, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, contained no 2C-B in most instances as of 2022.^[2]