Sierra Leone Declares Emergency Due To Grave-Digging Addicts Using Human Bone Drug 'Kush'

Kush, a psychoactive blend of addictive substances, has been prevalent in the country for years. The drug was referred to by President Julius Maada Bio as a "death trap" and deemed to pose an "existential crisis".

Security measures have been intensified in cemeteries to prevent addicts from digging up skeletons for human bone, one of the drug's ingredients.

Sierra Leone Declares Emergency - Here's What We Know

Groups of mostly young men, with limbs swollen by kush abuse, are commonly seen sitting on street corners in Sierra Leone. One recovering addict, with a bandage around his ankle, that the drug has a tight grip on him. "It is not liked by me," he said, "but it cannot be left as I enjoy it," as reported by BBC.

There is no official death toll, but one doctor informed that "in recent months" hundreds of young men had died from organ failure caused by kush in the capital, Freetown. The psychoactive substance also takes a toll on mental health - the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital, the country's only institution of its kind, reports that between 2020 and 2023, admissions linked to kush surged by almost 4,000% to reach 1,865, as per BBC reports.

The spike in kush use has seen Freetown's main cemeteries requesting police security to protect themselves from young men digging up skeletons - ground-up human bone is one of the many ingredients used to make kush, although it is not clear why. In a nationwide broadcast on Thursday night, President Bio stated: "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."

He further directed officials to set up a National Task Force on Drugs and Substance Abuse, which will primarily focus on "combatting the Kush crisis". Centres will be established in every district and "adequately staffed by trained professionals to offer care and support to people with drug addiction", according to the president, reported BBC.

At present, Freetown is home to the country's only functioning drug rehabilitation centre. The 100-bed facility was hurriedly set up in an army training centre earlier this year.

Experts have described it as "more of a holding centre than a rehab" because of its lack of adequate facilities. In addition to addressing treatment, the president indicated that law enforcement agencies should "dismantle the drug supply chain through investigations, arrests, and prosecutions".

Deputy Mayor of Freetown Kweku Lisk informed that his office had requested security from the police to tackle gravediggers. Currently, there is a night-time police deployment at the Kissy Road cemetery, a large unfenced site in an eastern suburb.

Bio's administration has been criticized by people who say it lacks the strategy and drive to respond to kush abuse. "Such is the vacuum left by the lack of adequate response that communities have often had to take the law into their own hands and have responded to the crisis sometimes in a disjointed and crude manner", said a foreign diplomat in Sierra Leone.

This sentiment has been echoed by callers on some local radio talk shows and on social media. Dr. Abdul Jalloh, head of the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital, stated that Bio's emergency declaration is "the right step" and will be "crucial in addressing drug use", reported BBC.

"It signifies the prioritization of resources, attention, and intervention to combat this growing epidemic," he said. Some 63% of the hospital's current patients were admitted with kush-related problems. Marie, a mother who lost her 21-year-old son to kush, said: "There is a lot the authorities must do beyond the president's address last night to combat this scourge."

WHO in Sierra Leone

Over the next 30 days, WHO will map 640 enumeration areas and the households listed across all 16 districts by field workers and supervisors, facilitating informed decision-making amid the drug pandemic in Sierra Leone. According to the WHO, a healthier future for all is being shaped together.

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