Sierra Leone has declared a national emergency over a psychoactive drug made from human bones.
The country has seen a sharp rise in the abuse of the drug kush, forcing police officers to patrol cemeteries in the capital, Freetown, to prevent youths from digging up skeletons to get high.
Kush is a drug made from a variety of substances, including toxic chemicals, herbs, cannabis and disinfectants, but one of its main ingredients is ground human bone, as it contains traces of sulfur, which can supposedly enhance the effect of the drug. drug.
In a nationwide broadcast yesterday, President Bio of Sierra Leone said: “Our country is currently facing an existential threat due to the devastating impact of drugs and substance abuse, particularly the devastating synthetic drug kush.”
In a nationwide broadcast yesterday, President Bio of Sierra Leone said: “Our country is currently facing an existential threat due to the devastating impact of drugs and substance abuse, particularly the devastating synthetic drug kush.” President Bio photographed in 2018
Although it is difficult to pinpoint the number of people affected, Sierra Leone’s only psychiatric hospital, a renovated British colonial-era facility, is inundated with young addicts brought in by families desperate for help.
Pictured: A man sleeps inside a drug warehouse at the Kington landfill in Freetown, July 2023.
Pictured: A woman sleeping while sitting in a Kush drug den in Freetown, July 2023.
Although there is no official death toll linked to kush abuse, a Freetown doctor told the BBC that “in recent months” hundreds of young men had died from organ failure caused by the drug.
Between 2020 and 2023, admissions to the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital for kush-related illnesses increased by almost 4,000 percent, with the vast majority being young men between 18 and 25 years old.
It first emerged in Sierra Leone about six years ago and induces a long-lasting hypnotic effect that can disconnect users from reality for several hours.
It usually costs just 20p per joint, although reports suggest many spend up to £8 a day on the medication, which is a huge sum considering the average income is just £400 a year.
Following this worrying increase, the president has created a National Task Force on Drugs and Substance Abuse, which will mean having centers in each district that have “adequate staff and professionals trained to offer care and support to people with drug addiction.” drugs.”
There is currently only one drug rehabilitation treatment center in the entire country and it is in Freetown, but even this one opened earlier this year and has only 100 beds.
In addition to this, police have been instructed to dismantle the drug supply chain through “investigations, arrests and prosecutions.”
Dr Abdul Jalloh, director of the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital, said Mr Bio’s emergency declaration is “the right step” and will be “crucial in tackling drug use”.
Someone else who saw the effects of it added: “Kush takes you to another world where you don’t know yourself.”
At 20p a joint, it is making terrible inroads among young people in a West African nation ranked among the world’s poorest.
A new ‘zombie’ drug containing human bones is sweeping Sierra Leone, killing two users every week and prompting traffickers to rob graves to meet demand.
“It means prioritizing resources, attention and intervention to combat this growing epidemic,” he said.
One victim, Abu Bakhar, 25, said Channel 4 News He lost hopes of a musical career when the drug turned him into a “zombie.”
He said: ‘Due to drugs I did not concentrate on studies. Because of the drugs I couldn’t concentrate on writing. Because of the drugs I didn’t concentrate on anything.”
Experts believe that the very high unemployment rate among young people also exacerbates the problem.
Like many others, he is now homeless and living in a landfill on the outskirts of Freetown, among more than a thousand people who reportedly live there.
Someone else who saw the effects of it added: “Kush takes you to another world where you don’t know yourself.”
‘It’s like there’s something demonic about it. “They see their friends and the people around them die and they still endure it.”
However, it is no longer just a problem in Sierra Leone; Reports show it is spreading throughout West Africa, with over a million people addicted in urban areas of Liberia and Guinea.
“Kush is a very dangerous drug like heroin or cocaine, it is strong, cheap and easily available; regulation and control over the sale of the drug is weak and it is becoming widespread in West Africa,” said Dr Edward Nahim , consultant psychiatrist at the Sierra Leone Psychiatric University Hospital.
“Lack of jobs and opportunities is a driving force leading many young people to drug addiction after economies were disrupted by the Covid pandemic.”