Pink cocaine linked to fatal accident of model in Miami and drug raid in Manhattan

Pink Cocaine, the misleadingly named drug that is actually a mix of ketamine and MDMA, is making headlines this week because of competing stories involving a Miami model and an alleged New Jersey dealer.

Maecee Marie Lathers was arrested on August 10 after she drove her Mercedes into two cars, killing two people and injuring two others. Bodycam footage from the scene suggests the 24-year-old, described in reports as an Instagram model, admitted to taking the brightly colored drug, also known as tusi and first covered in a 2022 VICE documentary. She faces two charges of manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol.

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Meanwhile, a New Jersey man named Rodrigo Zapata was charged with selling guns and pink cocaine throughout Manhattan after undercover agents seized eight firearms and over a pound of narcotics – including the trendy party drug.

The origins of Tusi can be traced back to 2010 in Colombia, where it was linked to young drug traffickers who allegedly targeted the club scene and tourist sex trade with pink cocaine. While Tusi is primarily made from ketamine and MDMA, other drugs have been known to be experimented with in the mix, including caffeine, benzodiazepines and meth.

Trip Report's Cameron Scally warned against taking Tusi, also known as 2C-B, in an interview with VICE last year after noticing its proliferation in London. Scally noted that people taking what is essentially a repackaged ketamine/MDMA mix are “just getting ripped off more than anything else.”

The National Library of Medicine published an article on Tusi in 2023, describing the drug's growing popularity among Americans. The researchers noted that the name Tusi is a phonetic translation of “2C,” the name for phenethylamines designed to mimic MDMA but marketed as “legal” – which was confusing since Tusi was mostly just ket and regular MDMA. Because of this unpredictability, they said, “unintended exposure to its ingredients can lead to an increased risk of adverse reactions.”