Sierra Leone has declared a national emergency over a psychoactive drug made from human bones.
The country has witnessed a sharp spike in abuse of the drug, kush, forcing police officers to guard cemeteries in the capital of Freetown, to stop young men from digging up skeletons to get high.
Kush is a drug made from a variety of substances, including toxic chemicals, herbs, cannabis, disinfenctant but one of its main ingredients is ground-up human bone, as they contain traces of sulphur, which allegedly can enhance the drugs effect.
In a nationwide broadcast yesterday, Sierra Leone's President Bio said: '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.'
Although there is no official death toll linked to kush abuse, one doctor from Freetown, told the BBC '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 with illnesses linked to kush rose by almost 4000 per cent, with the vast majority being young men between the ages of 18-25.
It first emerged in Sierra Leone around six years ago and induces a long-lasting, hypnotic high which can detach users from reality for several hours.
It typically will cost only 20p per joint, although reports suggest that many spend as much as £8 per day on the drug, which is a huge sum considering the average income is just £400 per year.
No comments:
Post a Comment