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Addicts in Sierra Leone dig up human bones as part of a recipe to make the drug kush,
According to Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio, this has become a national emergency and is slowly moving to other West African countries.
In a nationwide address, Bio said Sierra Leone is currently faced with an existential threat due to the ravaging impact of drugs and substance abuse, particularly the devastating synthetic drug kush.
Local media reported that the Kush scourge has forced police officers to keep watch over cemeteries in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown to prevent young men from digging up skeletons.
Daily Mail reports that one of the main ingredients in kush is a ground-up human bone.
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It stated that when added to other substances like harmful chemicals, cannabis, herbs, and disinfectants, it enhances the drug’s effect.
The drug, which is fairly cheap to procure, provides a lengthy, hypnotic high that takes users out of reality for several hours and first surfaced in the country about six years ago.
Local media also reported that hundreds of people have died of organ failure linked to the dangerous narcotic.
Also, admissions to the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital involving sicknesses linked to kush have risen almost 4,000% between 2020 and 2023, and most victims are young men under 25, the report said.
An aspiring musician Abu Bakhar, 25, gave up his dreams after kush turned him into a “zombie.”
“Because of drugs I did not concentrate on studies,” the 25-year-old told Channel 4 News.
“Because of drugs I did not concentrate on writing. Because of drugs I did not concentrate on anything.”
