According to ABC News, Liam Payne‘s partial autopsy has revealed the former One Direction singer had several illicit substances in his system when he fell or possibly jumped from a third-floor window at an Argentina hotel. One of the substances was “pink cocaine,” a potent drug mix sometimes called Tuci, common in Europe and Latin America.
Hotel staff called the police because Payne, 31, was behaving aggressively and possibly under the influence of drugs and alcohol, they said. Payne was in a room with a balcony, and they asked for help to come right away because they were concerned for Payne’s life. Payne’s body was found in the inner courtyard of the hotel where he was staying in Buenos Aires, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Preliminary autopsy findings also determined Payne suffered multiple traumas, with bleeding both inside and outside his body. The head injuries alone could have been enough to kill him, authorities said.
“Strange thoughts or confusion” and “seeing or hearing things that aren’t there”
According to the NIH, pink cocaine is a designer synthetic drug that combines different mixtures of several powerful substances, including ketamine and MDMA, opioids, methamphetamines, and sometimes — but not always — cocaine. The highly psychoactive pink cocaine gets its name from its color and its powdered consistency, and people ingest it without always knowing what they’ve taken. Pink cocaine use is spreading in the U.S., and Web MD says side effects include auditory and visual hallucinations and “strange thoughts or confusion,” among other mental and physical effects.
As well as pink cocaine, Payne reportedly had “Cristal,” or Argentinian meth, in his system, along with ketamine, ecstasy, alcohol, and anti-anxiety prescription medications. Authorities found a makeshift aluminum pipe in Payne’s room, and items inside the room were badly damaged, consistent with the role drugs may have played in Payne’s death, according to TMZ.
The Diddy-pink cocaine connection
Payne’s initial autopsy report was not the first time pink cocaine has been in the news. Pink cocaine is also named in several lawsuits filed against Diddy, alleging he used the substance during his “freak off” sex parties where abuse and sex trafficking happened, according to Diddy’s accusers. According to CBS News, one Diddy lawsuit states, “It was required all employees from the butler, the chef to the housekeepers, walk around with a pouch or fanny pack filled with cocaine, GHB, ecstasy, marijuana gummies and Tuci (a pink drug that is a combination of ecstasy and cocaine).”
Describing pink cocaine’s effects, New York City special narcotics prosecutor Bridget Brennan said, “It can put people into a ‘k-hole’ where they feel like they’re in a blank space like they are disassociated from their body, they’re disassociated from their brain, they don’t know what’s going on.”
The initial phone call from staff at the hotel where Payne was staying said, “When he is conscious, he is breaking the whole room. And, well, we need you to send us someone please. We need you to send us someone urgently because, well, we don’t know if the guest’s life is at risk. He is in a room that has a balcony. And well, we’re a bit afraid that he does something that could put his life at risk.”
A member of the hotel staff is under investigation for supplying Payne with the drugs. But early in the investigation, no arrests had been made. Argentinian authorities say Payne’s body will remain in Argentina until his autopsy is complete.
