Drug addicts in West Africa’s Sierra Leone are digging graves to consume psychoactive ‘Zombie’ drug crafted from partially decomposed human bones. The government has consequently declared a state of national emergency to combat the menace.
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Authorities are now guarding cemeteries to thwart the practice of exhuming skeletons for the ‘Zombie’ drug production. The drug, dubbed as ‘kush’, has ground-up human bone as one of its main ingredients.
What is ‘Zombie Drug’?
The narcotic drug first appeared in Sierra Leone in 2018. According to the BBC, the drug gives a hypnotic high that can last several hours. The drug abuse of this exact psychoactive substance has grown into an unprecedented challenge for the local government.
Dealers are now turning into grave robbers, breaking into thousands of tombs to steal skeletons to keep up with the demand.
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“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, according to the BBC.
Bio, while acknowledging “escalating fatalities” among the drug users, also said that he has set up a task force to eradicate the drug menace. Sierra Leone is now building centres in every district “adequately staffed by trained professionals to offer care and support to people with drug addiction”.
The country is aiming to break the chain of drug abuse through an administrative cycle of “investigations, arrests and prosecutions”.
Sierra Leone currently has only one functioning drug rehabilitation centre in Freetown, the capital of the country.
The 100-bed facility was hurriedly set up in an army training centre earlier this year.
But, it has been described as “more of a holding centre than a rehab” because of its lack of adequate facilities.
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Sierra Leone does not have an official death toll linked to “kush” abuse.
But between 2020 and 2023, admissions to the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital with illnesses linked to Kush rose by 4,000 per cent.
(With inputs from agencies)
Source link : https://www.wionews.com/trending/sierra-leone-addicts-dig-up-graves-to-get-high-from-drug-made-of-human-bones-709339/amp
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Publish date : 2024-04-09 03:00:00
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