For some years, a synthetic drug has become widespread among young people in West Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. It has a strong sedative effect, and causes addiction and sores on the legs: dozens of people die every week due to its consumption. It does not have a precise name, but it is usually called kush, a name by which various types of synthetic cannabinoids are known (as well as a natural variety of cannabis): they are molecules artificially created to imitate the effects of cannabis.
The ingredients of the kush widespread in West Africa are not known exactly, and in any case they vary greatly depending on who produces it. According to health workers in Sierra Leone, however, they generally almost always contain some ingredients, including synthetic cannabis, fentanyl, tramadol and formalin. Fentanyl is an opioid, initially developed as a strong painkiller (best known for the serious effects of its spread in the United States), as is tramadol. Formalin, on the other hand, is a disinfectant, also used in embalming. The ingredients are then mixed with herbs and other synthetic substances and smoked.
I newspapers from Sierra Leone also spoke of people arrested for having robbed some tombs to use the pulverized bones as ingredients for kush, but it is not possible to verify the authenticity of the stories and accusations. One reason people might use bones is that they contain small amounts of sulphur, which is mildly psychoactive, or traces of other drugs if they were consumed by the person to whom the bones belonged. Although these beliefs have a certain diffusionit is unlikely that smoking pulverized bones actually has psychoactive effects: any traces of other drugs are minimal, as are those of sulfur (which also produces sulfur dioxide, a toxic substance, if smoked).
– Read also: What is fentanyl?
However, not all the symptoms presented by people hospitalized due to kush abuse seem to be attributable to synthetic cannabis, fentanyl, tramadol and formalin. In particular, it is very common for those who use it for prolonged periods to have swollen feet and sores on their legs, which often become infected. For this reason, doctors are not sure what the ingredients of the substance actually are.
The drug essentially induces a feeling of euphoria and drowsiness. Many young Sierra Leoneans have said they consume it to forget even briefly about their problems, in a very poor country with few prospects (youth unemployment is around 60 percent). But in addition to the risk of overdosing, which is particularly high with fentanyl, there is also the danger of not having a correct perception of reality while under the influence of kush: several people, for example, have died after being fallen or run over due to substance-induced dizziness.
Kush is also quite widespread in Liberia, where it is esteem that 2.5 million people, out of approximately 5.3 million inhabitants, suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the civil war fought in the country in the 1990s and subsequent conflicts. From Sierra Leone, kush also began to be exported to neighboring Guinea. However, it does not appear that the places where kush is produced have been identified, nor whether there are criminal groups managing its trafficking.
Although occasionally some people who use kush are arrested, the legal status of the substance is unclear, partly due to the variety of its possible compositions. According to Jusu Mattia, head of the university psychiatric hospital in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, the problem of the spread of drugs among young people, however, does not have to do with crime, but rather with health and social issues.
There are too few specialized rehabilitation facilities in Sierra Leone to effectively treat the growing number of people addicted to kush. Even the hospitals of the national health system are unable to deal with the phenomenon: we must also consider that in the whole of Sierra Leone there are only 5 psychiatrists. In rehabilitation centers, therapy is basically based on forced abstinence from kush for a period of between 3 and 6 weeks. Only sometimes are psychotropic drugs provided to counteract withdrawal symptoms, or psychotherapy.
Even in Liberia the situation is similar: in some parts of the country there are no health facilities, and in 2021 the state budget had foreseen spending only around 20 thousand dollars on mental health.
Kush has been around for about six years, but it seems to have become especially popular in the last two or three years. In 2020, 47 people identified as addicted to kush were admitted to the University Psychiatric Hospital in Freetown: in 2022, this number rose to 1,101. Part of the increase, however, could be linked to the decrease in stigma against those seeking medical help for their addiction.
Among the other factors that have favored the spread of kush are its low cost, the potency of its effects, as well as the ease with which it can be found who sells it, especially in Freetown. The dose contained in a cigarette costs the equivalent of around 20 euro cents, but usually an addicted person smokes a few dozen, often with other addicted people: this involves spending around ten euros a day, in a country where the average annual income is 460 euros.
– Maybe you’re interested: Things explained well. Drugs basically