Since the 20’s, nightclubs have represented the elective place for getting a state of collective inebriation. Around the year 1964, LSD almost took the place of the old illegal alcohol, and contributed to the creation of a new, psychedelic mentality, with the notable intellectual inspiration of Dr. Timothy Leary. After the Controlled Substance Act, effective from May 1, 1971, in the successive year 1974 Alexander Shulgin, an American biochemist, became the godfather of ecstasy, by studying hallucinogenic phenethylamines (2C family), and synthesizing 2C-B. In the meanwhile, since the 60’s, at first at the UK nightclubs, and then at the American discotheques, club goers started to consume a number of drugs cocktails, illegally manufactured by mixing uppers (stimulants) and downers (depressants). The variety and the unpredictability of those cocktails was incredible, so that some authors have talked about “Russian roulette”.
The introduction of the above serves to explain better what is “pink cocaine”, a cocktail of drugs about which there’s a high level of attention, after the shocking death of Liam Payne, the former singer of the very popular band the One Direction. Alas, Liam died in October, 2024, after a fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The autopsy has revealed the presence in Liam’s body of some drugs, that are normally blended into pink cocaine, a mixture of substances known well in South America. After reading, at least, a pair of dozens of press articles, I’ve decided to add my humble contribution, in order to offer some more information, with solid roots inside the history of club drugs. Before talking about pink cocaine, I remember to my readers that, after the scheduling of LSD, the substance gained some nicknames, that have formed a true drug slang, such as “pink panther”, “pink witches”, “pink robots”, and “pink blotters”. In summary, for various decades, the color pink has been associated to LSD.
Since late 2000’s, all over Colombian nightclubs, something known as “tusi” conquered the market of recreational drugs. The word “tusi” is a contracted, phonetic translation of 2C-B, the result of Alexander Shulgin’s efforts (see above). In reality, 2C-B was scarce in Colombia, so that “tusi” acquired the new name of “pink cocaine”, and 2C-B was substituted with a mixture of drugs, largely variable. The original pink cocaine was ketamine plus tramadol, a synthetic opioid. With the high rise of the consumption, cocaine, meth, MDMA, LSD, and caffeine became other possible ingredients, together with the only constant of the cocktail, a pink food coloring, in some cases strawberry-flavored. Pink cocaine was initially conceived as something for rich persons, given the scarcity of 2C-B, but it was popularized around the year 2017. The popularity of pink cocaine has exploded from 2017 to 2022, practically all-over South America. It is in pill form, or snorted as a powder. Successively, pink cocaine has been spread in the USA, in Europe, and in some Asian countries. The most relevant curiosity is that, nowadays, pink cocaine never contains cocaine. The drugs cocktail is still very variable, although it often contains ketamine, and always contains pink food coloring.
Of course, the conclusion is equal to the title of the page. It is confirmed by the new mix, appositely recorded and entirely made of danceable songs, with the word "pink" in the title.
