Kush addiction across Sierra Leone forcing president to take dramatic corrective actions

A macabre phenomenon is gripping the African country of Sierra Leone, forcing authorities to take drastic action.

As the New York Post reports, the practice of digging up the bones of deceased humans in order to manufacture the drug known as kush has become so prevalent that a national emergency has been declared to stem the tide.

Things have gotten so out of hand that President Julius Maada Bio has been forced to address the country to raise awareness of the epidemic of bad behavior and take dramatic steps to reverse the trend.

“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 president explained.

A particularly ghoulish aspect of the problem is the fact that a key ingredient in the production of the drug is ground human bone, which is then added to chemical substances, herbs, cannabis, and disinfectant to produce an especially potent blend, according to the Daily Mail.

The scenario has become so dire that the government has had to resort ot posting officers at cemeteries in the city of Freeport in order to stop people from digging up bodies in order to harvest their bones.

Kush is relatively inexpensive to produce, yet offers users a long-lasting high, and first began to emerge in Sierra Leone about six years ago.

Just between the years 2020 and 2023, hospital admissions in the country due to kush-related conditions skyrocketed by roughy 4000%, with young men between 18 and 25 the most impacted by the scourge.

The health effects of the addiction crisis has spurred the country's president not just to station guards at cemeteries, but also to create a National Task Force on Drugs and Substance Abuse.

As such, centers are poised to be established in areas of need, and they will be “adequately staffed by trained professionals to offer care and support to people with drug addiction.”

That will mark a significant change to the current situation in which only one drug rehab facility exists in the entirety of Sierra Leone.

Given that it only contains 100 beds and is also quite new, the need for expanded treatment options is manifest.

Poverty and joblessness in the country are factors blamed for the proliferation of kush abuse among young men in the country, and its incredibly powerful effects are used by many as an escape they ultimately cannot shake.

One man familiar with the drug's impact explained, “Kush takes you to another world where you don't know yourself. It's like it has something demonic in it,” and whether the government's infusion of resources into the battle against the substance will have an appreciable effect, only time will tell.