In the Media

In Salon’s recap of 2024’s defining drug trends, Dr. Joseph Palamar, NDEWS Deputy Director, discusses the growing popularity of "pink cocaine," also known as “tuci.” This drug, a vibrant pink powder, is a mix of substances like MDMA, ketamine, and 2C-B but rarely contains actual cocaine. Its unpredictable composition makes it difficult to track and heightens the risk for people who use tuci. Dr. Palamar expressed concern over the potential for fentanyl contamination in tuci, which could turn the drug from a recreational novelty into a deadly threat. The spread of pink cocaine in Latin America, Europe, and the U.S. highlights the challenges of monitoring and mitigating risks associated with unregulated drug cocktails.

NDEWS Co-Director Joseph Palamar, PhD, was recently interviewed by CBS News in a segment titled "Law enforcement raises warning over so-called pink cocaine." Palamar can be seen in the segment standing in front of a display of the NDEWS Web Monitoring Team's most recent report on pink cocaine, or tusi, as he explains how increased chatter on Reddit can be used to predict drug trends. NDEWS published its first alert on pink cocaine in February 2023.

The New York Times reported on tusi, also known as pink cocaine, highlighting the DEA's reports on increasing distribution of the polysubstance, which is often found to contain ketamine in addition to other substances. “Ketamine is going to dethrone Ecstasy very soon, and tusi is really going to bump it up,” NDEWS Deputy Director Dr. Joseph Palamar was quoted as saying in the article. NDEWS Director Dr. Linda Cottler told the New York Times that she considers pink cocaine among the most dangerous club drugs because dealers and users rarely know what is mixed into any given batch. Palamar also spoke about the potential dangers. “All you need is one drug dealer to mix fentanyl into their tusi batch,” he said. “They have the ability to poison a bunch of people.”