US authorities have recently linked Latin American gangs like Tren de Aragua to the sale of “pink cocaine,” or “tusi.” But the evidence suggests that tusi is more marketing than chemistry, raising questions about how real or uniform the threat is.
After a nightclub raid in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on April 27, authorities detained undocumented immigrants and seized cocaine, methamphetamine, and “pink cocaine,” (a term law enforcement often uses to describe tusi), according to the DEA. Following the raid, US Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed the club was “frequented” by members of the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs.
The operation came just one week after the Department of Justice charged alleged Tren de Aragua members with racketeering and drug offenses. Selling tusi has “become their calling card,” said Acting US Attorney Matthew Podolsky for the Southern District of New York in a press release.
These statements underscore what some authorities appear to be painting as a growing trend: the emergence of a domestic market for tusi, a party drug that has long been popular in parts of South America, sold by members of groups like the Tren de Aragua.
SEE ALSO: Tusi: The Pink Drug Cocktail That Tricked Latin America
Tusi is the phonetic spelling of “2C,” a reference to the drug 2C-B. First synthesized by a US chemist in the 1970s, 2C-B belongs to the 2C family of compounds. These substances produce euphoric effects similar to MDMA, combined with the hallucinogenic visuals of LSD. However, the 2C family never gained the widespread popularity of MDMA or LSD and had largely faded from use by the 1990s, except in certain parts of the European club scene.
2C-B eventually reached the Colombian party scene, where vendors began mixing it with pink food coloring and rosy aromatics to make it more pleasant to ingest. The pink hue quickly became a marketing gimmick, and demand surged.
But with limited quantities of 2C-B available, dealers began cutting the mixture with substances like caffeine, MDMA, ketamine, and other synthetic drugs. Over time, 2C-B virtually disappeared from these powders, although the name “2C” stuck, eventually evolving into “tusi.”
At first, the drug migrated to other Latin American markets, including Argentina, Uruguay, and even spread to Europe. But reports of “pink cocaine” use later emerged in several cities across the US.
Since 2020, the DEA has seized a total of 960 pink powders. But not only are these numbers tiny in comparison to the 180 million fentanyl pills the DEA has confiscated over the same period, the composition of the powders is wildly inconsistent. Just 4 of the exhibits contained 2C-B, while the remaining 956 exhibits were listed as “other” substances.
In New York City, a recent study estimated that 2.7% of adults who attend electronic music nightclubs in the city had used tusi in the past year, which almost always contained “ketamine plus other drugs.”
In Miami-Dade County, a study by the Medical Examiner identified eight overdose deaths between 2020 and 2024 involving “pink cocaine.” Ketamine was present in all samples, with most also containing MDMA. Other substances detected included cocaine, methamphetamine, and oxycodone.
But in Austin, Texas, police reported the pink cocaine seized locally contained cocaine, heroin, and MDMA.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department told InSight Crime tusi can be made up of MDMA, ketamine, meth, and caffeine and sometimes cocaine, but “there is no exact recipe for it, it depends on who is cooking it”.
InSight Crime Analysis
Tusi’s rise as a supposed drug threat in the US has more to do with branding and law enforcement messaging, including links to newsworthy gangs, than with any consistent evidence of organized trafficking or clearly defined danger.
Since tusi is just a cocktail of other drugs, it’s difficult to assess where it’s produced and at what scale. Unlike cocaine or fentanyl, there have been no discoveries of large-scale production facilities. Instead, what authorities have found are small, homemade operations. In March 2025, for instance, Colombian police dismantled a tusi “laboratory” operating out of a private residence, only supplying party-goers in a certain neighborhood of Bogotá.
Still, US authorities have pointed to vague international connections. The DEA’s 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment noted that while no tusi labs have been discovered in Mexico, the Sinaloa Cartel “is capable of importing large quantities of ketamine from China to facilitate tusi production.” In June 2024, the US Coast Guard reported seizing more than 140 pounds of “pink cocaine” during a patrol off the coasts of Central and South America.
“Tusi is not locally made, and certain components are imported from Colombia,” Samantha Choon, a detective with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, told InSight Crime. “Most Tusi is distributed by individuals or groups with South American roots,” she added.
Pink cocaine found in the LA area is “made in Mexico by Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNG) and then transported across the US border to Arizona,” said the LAPD spokesperson, but could not provide any specific evidence to support this claim because of ongoing investigations.
But there’s still little concrete evidence that Latin American organized crime groups like Tren de Aragua are behind the drug’s movement into the United States. More likely, local dealers are adopting the Colombian marketing formula: using the pink color to sell familiar drugs under a trendy name. And given how few confirmed tusi seizures have occurred, the scale appears to remain small.
Featured Image: Authorities testing a bag of “pink cocaine” or “tusi.” Credit: CBS News.