Sierra Leone: Kush Highlights Urgent Need for Response

Kush

Sierra Leone could see its youthful population succumbing to the drug addiction of Kush if drastic and urgent actions are not taken.

Development Diaries reports that the addiction to polydrug Kush amongst the country’s young people has resulted in increasing threats to the country’s public health.

Kush, a synthetic drug made from marijuana-based concoctions, may include anything from fentanyl, tramadol, or formalin, a substance used to embalm corpses, and often leads to permanent brain damage and suicidal actions.

According to local government officials in the country’s capital, Freetown, 32 young people were buried earlier this month, with most dying from kush-related effects.

Also, officials at the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital, previously known as Kissy Hospital, revealed that many patients admitted to being kush users or addicts, highlighting the impact of the drug on the increasing rate of mental health patients in the country.

‘With the public emergency in place, we would have increased awareness, get young people to understand the dangers of kush and how they could avoid it’, said the Vice Chairman of Sierra Leone’s Human Rights Commission, Victor Idrissa Lansana.

‘We don’t have to wait until many more lives are lost to kush. As we have said, it’s about the right to life, the right to health and the right to education. We have to intervene as a country, co-ordinately, to address this issue of kush once and for all’.

The Sierra Leonean Ministry of Health must increase its efforts to tame the growing addiction amongst the country’s population by collaborating with stakeholders, including religious leaders, development partners, civil society, and influential figures, to help create awareness of the harmful effects of the drug.

The ministry must further back awareness campaigns with mental health support services, especially in rural communities, as they are harder to reach.

Source: DW

Photo source: John Wessles/AFP/GettyImages

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