There’s a popular Afrohouse song, called “Tussi Sabes,” that plays on the words “you do” (tú sí) and the synthetic drug “tusi.” The song, by Dj Roderick and Dj Pale, has racked up more than 10 million plays on YouTube.
But the song’s popularity belies a dark reality: Users don’t really know what tusi is. That’s because tusi’s makeup is largely dependent on who is making it and what drugs are available to them.
Tusi is mainly sold as a party drug, and this year, Medellín’s health department has reported at least 18 cases of severe vascular damage, 22 poisonings, and an amputation linked to the drug. There have also been reports of the powder in Argentina, Uruguay, Europe, Australia, and the United States. Colombian and US authorities link tusi production to different criminal groups, but a recipe anyone can mix in a kitchen means no single group can control the market, and no recipe is the same.
What is tusi?
Tusi is a play on 2C-B, or 4-Bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine, a chemically engineered substance producing a sensation similar to the euphoria of MDMA and the visuals of LSD. It was introduced into Colombian nightclubs from Europe in the late 2000s.
But the need for chemical precursors and clandestine laboratories concentrated in Western Europe made 2C-B difficult to traffic to South America in bulk, so Colombian vendors began cutting it heavily with cheaper and more available powders like caffeine, MDMA and ketamine. Over time, actual 2C-B has disappeared almost entirely from the concoction, although the namesake has stayed—and spread—throughout the region and abroad.
Today public health officials in Medellín warn that as many as nine substances can be mixed in a single tusi batch. And research from a Colombia-based substance harm reduction group Echele Cabeza has shown up to 18 compounds appearing across samples. The hodgepodge of substances often mixes depressants, or “downers,” with stimulants, or “uppers,” in what is known as a “speedball,” which increases the risk of overdose.
Lab tests and seizures have identified that most tusi samples have ketamine as a primary ingredient, mixed with MDMA, methamphetamine, and other stimulants. Some samples have also tested positive for synthetic cathinones, or what are commonly referred to as “bath salts”; fentanyl and other opioids; and benzodiazepines, mescaline, LSD, and other hallucinogens. Fentanyl-laced tusi poses an overdose risk, especially if users assume they’re only taking a stimulant drug and lack tolerance to opioids.
Tusi traffickers are constantly adapting their methods and sourcing different chemicals and pharmaceuticals depending on regional availability, which prevents authorities from tracking specific synthetic drug manufacturers. But they largely settled on what has been a seductive moniker: “pink cocaine.”
Where did pink cocaine come from?
Tusi is referred to as “tusibi,” “2C,” or “tussi,” but the drug rose in popularity when early Colombian vendors began mixing the powder with pink food coloring, and started calling it pink cocaine, leading to a rapid increase in demand across Latin America and the United States.
How and where is tusi made?
Medellín currently remains the hotspot for tusi production and consumption, and although authorities there have linked it to the Medellin-based criminal group La Terraza, its creation isn’t monopolized. Because the ingredients and quantity of each substance in every batch can vary widely, tracking its production cannot be pinned down to a manufacturing base like other illicit substances. And because the process is essentially mixing and dyeing pre-existing drugs rather than chemical synthesis, the barrier to creating the mixture is low and doesn’t always require a chemist.
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United States authorities allege groups like the Sinaloa Cartel are profiting off tusi by importing ketamine into Mexico from China. But unlike with cocaine and fentanyl, US authorities have not identified large-scale production or infrastructure. Instead, they have found only small, homemade operations coming out of private residences. These “labs” are typically basement or kitchen-style operations, and the mixture of substances is dependent on the “cook” behind it. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has documented “pink powder” seizures in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami, where medical examiners recorded around eight overdose deaths related to “pink cocaine” between 2020 and 2024.
The drug has also migrated to markets in Argentina, Uruguay, and Europe. Argentine authorities have seized doses of tusi in Buenos Aires, allegedly trafficked from Rosario. In 2024, the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) documented at least three country detections of tusi, most coming from Spain and Italy. By 2025, the EUDA identified pink powders in Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania, and Sweden.
In October 2026, a medical examiner within Ireland’s public health department warned tusi is spreading among Irish cities, according to the Irish Examiner.
