Tusi (a mixture of ketamine and other drugs) is on the rise among NYC nightclub attendees

(Press-News.org) “Tusi”, also known as “tucibí” or “pink cocaine”, is a drug concoction that emerged in Latin America and Europe within the past decade and is becoming increasingly popular in the USA.  A new study published in the scientific journal Addiction estimates that in 2024, 2.7% of electronic dance music-nightclub attending adults in New York City (NYC) used Tusi in the past year, with higher use among Hispanic people and people who use other drugs.  

Consumers often don’t understand what Tusi is when they take it.  Tusi is commonly confused with the 2C family of drugs – psychedelics – because it is a phonetic translation of “2C”. Tusi is also commonly called “tucibí” or “tusibí” (the phonetic translation of 2C-B, a particular type of psychedelic).  And it is also often called “pink cocaine” (“cocaina rosada” in Spanish).  All of these names have the potential to confuse people who use, who may believe they are taking a psychedelic drug or largely unadulterated cocaine. 

In fact, Tusi is a drug mixture that rarely contains 2C drugs and most commonly contains ketamine and MDMA (ecstasy), sometimes in combination with cocaine.  And therein lies the potential danger.

Lead author Dr Joseph Palamar, of NYU Grossman School of Medicine, explains: “People who use illicit drugs are often at risk of using drugs adulterated or even replaced by other drugs.  But Tusi puts people who use drugs at an even higher risk, partly because it is easily confused with two other types of drugs – 2C series or cocaine – and partly because Tusi is pretty much always a concoction of various drugs. This greatly increases the risk of adverse or unexpected effects.”

Tusi use in this study was determined by self-report.  The study surveyed a sample of 1,465 adults attending 124 electronic dance music events hosted by NYC nightclubs from January through November 2024.  Participants took a survey on an electronic tablet before entering the nightclub. The survey results were used to estimate prevalence of Tusi use among all people who attended an electronic dance music event at a NYC nightclub in 2024.

Ketamine/MDMA drug mixtures marketed as “tucibí” or “pink cocaine” have been reported from Spain since about 2018.  In Latin America, drug checking programs in Argentina have been testing the contents of Tusi since at least 2019, in Uruguay since at least 2020, and in Columbia and Chile since at least 2021.  Systematic drug checking data focusing on Tusi have been lacking in the US.

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For editors:

This paper is available to read online on the Wiley Online Library for one month after the embargo has lifted (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.70069) or you may request an early copy from Jean O’Reilly, Editorial Manager, Addiction, jean@addictionjournal.org.

To speak with lead author Dr Joseph Palamar, please contact him at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine by email (joseph.palamar@nyulangone.org).

Full citation for article: Palamar JJ, Abukahok N, Acosta P, Krotulski AJ, Walton SE, Stang B, and Cleland CM.  Tusi Use among the New York City Nightclub-Attending Population. Addiction. 2025. DOI: 10.1111/add.70069

Primary funding:  National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) award numbers R01DA057289, R01DA060207, and P30DA01104.

Declaration of interests: Dr. Palamar has consulted for the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program. The authors have no potential conflicts to declare.

Addiction (www.addictionjournal.org) is a monthly international scientific journal publishing peer-reviewed research reports on alcohol, substances, tobacco, gambling, editorials, and other debate pieces. Owned by the Society for the Study of Addiction, it has been in continuous publication since 1884.

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