What exactly is pink cocaine? An expert explains the drug that makes headlines

The headline-grabbing drug has been linked to Liam Payne’s death and named in a civil lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs.

• The headline-grabbing drug ‘pink cocaine’ has been mentioned in the ongoing Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sex-trafficking case and was linked to the death of One Direction star Liam Payne.

• “Pink cocaine” is a catchy term for a mix of drugs that may or may not contain cocaine

• It’s usually done with ketamine, but as Dr. Adam Berman, a toxicologist and addiction medicine specialist who’s also the associate chair of Emergency Medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, tells People, “Nobody really knows what they’re doing serve”.

He has been named in a civil lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs and linked to the shocking death of One Direction star Liam Payne. But what exactly is “pink cocaine”?

For starters, it depends on the batch.

“It’s a catch-all term that people are using recently for a mixture of substances,” Dr. Adam Berman, a toxicologist and addiction medicine specialist who is also the associate chairman of Emergency Medicine on Long Island, tells PEOPLE Jewish Medical Center.

“Sometimes it contains cocaine, but very often it contains very small amounts of cocaine,” he explains. “Usually it’s a mix of what people would consider highs and lows. You don’t really know what you’re getting when you use pink cocaine.”

However, “very often, there will be ketamine,” Berman tells PEOPLE. Ketamine, sometimes called Special K, is a “dissociative anesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects,” explains the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

“Ketamine can induce a state of sedation (feeling calm and relaxed), immobility, pain relief, and amnesia (no memory of events under the influence of the drug).” One victim alleged that Diddy provided them with unknown substances, which she later learned contained ketamine, according to a complaint.

Music mogul Diddy is facing multiple lawsuits alleging he drugged and raped people as young as 13.

According to a report in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, “pink cocaine” can be combined with methamphetamine, cocaine, opioids or other substances, the journal said, which is also known as “Tusi,” a phonetic version of “2C ,”. ” which is the classification for a certain psychedelic.

However, psychedelics, or even cocaine, are not always included in the powder, which Washington Postexplained is tinged with pink by the distributors.

And as the National Capital Poison Center warns, “physical and sexual assaults, as well as traumatic injuries, have occurred when people are affected by these types of drugs.”

Related: Matthew Perry Died of Ketamine’s ‘Acute Effects’: What You Need to Know About the Hallucinogen

The Poison Control Center adds that the drug can “lead to long-term addiction” and has a wide list of effects, depending on what’s in that particular batch.

“People use the drug to experience a sense of openness, sociability and euphoria. Adverse effects include hallucinations, anxiety, elevated body temperature, increased heart rate and blood pressure, low sodium levels, nausea and vomiting and, rarely, seizures, abnormal heart rhythms and coma.”

“Pink cocaine” was one of several substances discovered in a toxicology report carried out on One Direction star Liam Payne, who died on October 16 at the age of 31.

“Everybody has their ketchup, but everybody’s ketchup is a little different, but they all call it ketchup,” Berman told PEOPLE.

Related: ‘Ketamine Queen’ ‘Likely More Victims’ Charged in Matthew Perry’s Death, Feds Say

“The biggest danger, of course, is death. It’s a fine balance between the highs and the lows and if someone uses a mixture that contains more degradants, so to speak, they can easily stop breathing.”

“It really is the Wild West out there,” he said. “Nobody really knows what they’re using when they’re using anything.”

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Read the original article on People.