Drug Made From Human Bones; Sierre Leone Declares National Emergency

The drug has become a major issue in the city of Sierra Leone. Levelling up its danger recently, addicts have found methods to extract drugs from human bones. And to get the bones, they are now digging up graves. According to the BBC report, a psychoactive drug is crafted from the human bones and this haunting menace has left the West African country to declare a national emergency.

The drug named Kush is produced from a wide variety of toxic substances and the main ingredient used is the human bone. Police officers in Freetown are guarding cemeteries to thwart the disturbing patience of exhuming skeletons for the “Zombie” drug production. This drug emerged in South Africa around six years ago. This hypnotic drug has the capacity to make a lasting effect of several hours. The dealers to meet the customers needs have turned to grave robbers, breaking into thousands of graves to steal skeletons.

“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,” Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio said.

Investigation teams are now deployed to break the drug supply chain by “investigation, arrests and prosecutions”. Mr Bio has further said that they have set up a task force to eradicate the drug. This means there will be centers in every district “adequately staffed by trained professionals to offer care and support to people with drug addiction,” he said.

Currently in the country, there is only one functioning rehabilitation center. The 100-bed facility cannot be considered a rehab and it operated more as a holding center due to the lack of adequate facilities.

However, there have been no reports of death linked to the usage of Kush but many have died due to organ failure caused by the drug. As per the statistics, between 2020 and 2023, admissions to the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital with illnesses linked to Kush rose by 4,000%.