What is Kush?

A new drug called Kush is wreaking havoc in west Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone. This drug, taken mostly by men aged 18 to 25, causes people to fall asleep while walking, to bang their heads against hard surfaces, walk into moving traffic or fall from high places. A local addict called Amara has lost several of his friends and relatives while high on Kush, including one who fell over and hit his head on a rock – a blow which killed him.

Kush in Sierra Leone is quite different from the drug of the same name found in the US, which is a mixture of “an ever-changing host of chemicals” sprayed on plant matter and smoked. The Kush prevalent in West is quite different; it is a mixture of cannabis, fentanyl, tramadol, formaldehyde and—according to some—ground down human bones (not proven).

The effects of the drug vary and depend on the user and the drug content. Cannabis causes a wide variety of effects, which include euphoria, relaxation and an altered state of consciousness. Fentanyl, an extremely potent opioid, produces euphoria and confusion and causes sleepiness among a wide range of other side-effects. Similarly, tramadol, which is also an opioid but less potent than fentanyl (100mg tramadol has the same effect as 10mg morphine) results in users becoming sleepy and "spaced out"—disconnected from things happening around them.

Kush also proves fatal

There is no official data available for deaths related to the drug, but health experts estimate around a dozen Kush users die weekly in Sierra Leone, with their bodies often recovered from the streets and slums.

But it’s not just Sierra Leone which is grappling with the fallout from Kush. A wave of addiction is slowly moving across West Africa, with the horrors of Freetown now being repeated in the urban centres of Liberia and Guinea. Estimates suggest more than a million people from the region are now addicted.

“Kush is a very dangerous drug like heroin or cocaine, it’s strong, cheap and easily available, there is weak regulation and control over the sale of the drug and it’s becoming widespread in West Africa,” says Dr Edward Nahim, a consultant psychiatrist at the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Teaching Hospital.

The Sierra Leone Psychiatric Teaching Hospital in Freetown says it has been overwhelmed with addicts in recent years. The number of referrals keeps rising on a daily basis. In terms of the Kush Epidemic in this region, Dr Jusu Mattia, the medical superintendent of the centre said that “the issue of youth intoxicating themselves with Kush is not a criminal justice problem, but rather a health and social related problems that need to be addressed holistically”.