Pop music fandoms around the world were shocked to hear about the unexpected death of former One Direction member Liam Payne, whose fall from a Bueno Aires hotel’s third-story balcony took his life on Wednesday, October 16. Since then, all manner of sympathetic posts and statements have surfaced, from Simon Cowell getting emotional to Payne’s 1D mates sharing a mournful message to fellow pop star Shawn Mendes’ concert-stopping tribute and beyond. All while questions remain surrounding the specifics of his death.
In particular, much attention has been given to the amount of illicit substances that were allegedly found both in his hotel room and in his bloodstream, with the slang term “pink cocaine” being used to describe the specific mixture that could have pushed him over the edge, in both a metaphorical and literal sense. Here’s the latest on the investigation, as well as former NBA baller Lamar Odom speaking anecdotally about the dangers of “pink cocaine” compared to other drugs.
What Is Pink Cocaine, And Why Are Argentinian Police Investigating The Hotel Itself?
Despite the Schedule II narcotic in its name, pink cocaine isn’t actually reliant on the powdered stimulant itself. Rather, the term is applied to the combination of methamphetamine, ketamine, and ecstasy, and it’s indeed this mixture (possibly with other intoxicants in the mix) that is believed to have played a role in Liam Payne’s death. Cocaine itself is also said to have been found by police in the hotel bedroom, as well as crack.
According to TMZ, law enforcement officers are looking into one specific employee from the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, as they suspect he supplied Payne with anti-anxiety medication that was also found in the room. Beyond that, authorities are also looking into the notion of whether or not that same employee was the one responsible for either giving other drugs to the singer, or for selling them.
At the time of writing, no arrests or official statements have been made on that specific matter, and the investigation is ongoing.
Lamar Odom Weighs In On Dangers Of Heavy Drug Use
Former NBA star Lamar Odom has been as public and forthcoming as any celebrity about his past issues with drug addictions, in part because of how publicized his close calls were, from a multi-day cocaine binge that left him in a coma in 2015 to drunkenly collapsing at a nightclub in 2017 to other incidents. Since then, the athlete has reportedly warded off the heavy drug use, and has credited marijuana with balancing his high anxiety.
As someone with the suspected experience of pink cocaine use, Odom was stopped by TMZ to get his take on how the substance abuse may have led to Liam Payne's tragic fall, which is also being investigated as a potential suicide. When asked if he's imbibed on pink cocaine before, Odom answered and brought up hallucinations as a potential factor, saying:
I think so. I've done a lot of things. . . . Drugs can cause you to hallucinate, and if he was in a hallucination state, then who knows what would happen? . . . . I've heard voices before. . . . Especially with...crack. Drive you up a wall.
Lamar Odom confirmed that hearing voices in the midst of a high can cause heavy paranoia, and said this when asked if he thought such drug-fueled voices could be directly responsible for his death. In his words:
To death? I don't know, because I was always strong enough to kind of like bear down. And realize that there's no exception to not being here.
Obviously it's impossible to know exactly what was going through the pop star's brain in the minutes and moments before he fell to his death, but there is at least the possibility that the combination of substances in his system caused visual and/or aural hallucinations that may have influenced his behavior that fateful day.
As of late, Lamar Odom continues to embrace living healthier and happier in ways that don't involve illegal narcotics. And he shared that he'll be praying for Liam Payne's family during their time of mourning.