Sierra Leone’s battle against ‘zombie drug’ turns into national emergency
President Julius Maada Bio’s addresses grave situation in Sierra Leone, where drug addicts desecrate graves for kush ingredients, causing spike in organ failures among youth
West Africa’s Sierra Leone is facing a dire crisis as President Julius Maada Bio officially declares drug abuse a national emergency.
The country is grappling with the rampant spread of an addiction to kush, a synthetic drug concocted from a variety of chemicals, including ground human bones. This disturbing trend is causing widespread devastation, particularly among Sierra Leone’s youth, and poses a significant challenge to the nation’s public health and social stability.
Addicts and dealers in Sierra Leone have resorted to unearthing human remains to procure bones for kush production.
President Bio, in a nationwide address, highlighted this alarming development: “Our country is currently faced with an existential threat due to the ravaging impact of drugs and substance abuse, particularly the devastating synthetic drug kush.”
The police, in response, have intensified the guarding of Freetown’s cemeteries to prevent further desecration.
This disturbingly cheap drug, costing as little as 25 cents per dose, combines herbs, toxic chemicals, disinfectant, and human bones. The inclusion of bones, rich in sulfur, is believed to amplify the drug’s effect. Kush first emerged in the country about six years ago, and its hypnotic high detaches users from reality for hours.
A Freetown doctor, speaking to the BBC, reported hundreds of young men dying from organ failure linked to kush in recent months. Between 2020 and 2023, Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital saw a 4,000% increase in admissions due to kush-related illnesses, primarily affecting young males.
The personal stories emerging from this crisis paint a bleak picture. Abu Bakhar, 25, a former aspiring musician, now a homeless resident of a landfill, shared with Channel 4 News, “Because of drugs, I did not concentrate on studies, on writing, on anything.” Like many, his life derailed due to kush.
To combat this epidemic, President Bio has established a National Task Force on Drugs and Substance Abuse. The task force’s mandate includes combating the kush crisis through various means, including breaking the drug supply chain and establishing care facilities in each district staffed by trained professionals.
Despite these efforts, the current infrastructure, including the nation’s only rehab center with 100 beds, remains inadequate for the scale of the problem.
The kush epidemic is rooted in broader socioeconomic issues. With a staggering 60% youth unemployment rate, many young people, like 21-year-old Amara Kallon, turn to kush to escape their harsh realities. In an interview with the Telegraph, Kallon confessed, “I love it. It makes me feel happy for a moment, enough to forget my worries and societal problems.”
Source: Newsroom
