KUSH CRISIS!
…GOVERNMENT IN DENIAL AS YOUTHS DIE IN SILENCE
By Ibrahim Alusine Kamara (Kamalo)
Sierra Leone has been quietly plunged into a deadly war — one that is not fought with guns, but with syringes, pipes, and crushed leaves of a synthetic nightmare known as kush. This drug has torn through communities, wrecked families, and eroded the future of the nation’s youth. It is, without question, the most dreaded health and security crisis in the country’s modern history.
On April 4th, 2024, President Julius Maada Bio declared a national emergency on drug and substance abuse, a move widely seen as an overdue acknowledgment of the magnitude of the disaster. The declaration was intended to strengthen existing laws and mobilize national institutions to confront the menace head-on.
However, months later, the situation tells a different story. The President’s pronouncement has not translated into a coordinated, well-resourced response. Instead, a troubling wave of official denial and bureaucratic indifference has clouded the government’s fight against kush — with key figures such as the Speaker of Parliament, the Chief Minister, and officials from the Ministry of Local Government publicly downplaying or outright dismissing the scale of the crisis.
While the streets of Freetown, Makeni, Bo, and Kenema continue to host scenes of young men sprawled in gutters, hallucinating and decaying before their prime, some senior government officials maintain that the situation is being “exaggerated.” Such remarks have not only angered citizens but have also further exposed the deep disconnect between the political class and the suffering on the ground.
The consequence of this denial is a crisis mismanaged into paralysis. Institutions charged with leading the response — particularly the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) — remain understaffed, underfunded, and underequipped. The agency’s operational capacity has been reduced to little more than symbolic press briefings, with no sustained enforcement or intelligence-driven operations to stem the inflow and distribution of kush.
The government’s commitment to rehabilitation has fared no better. Reports indicate that all government-run drug rehabilitation centers across the country — including Hastings and Gondama — were shut down in July this year after discharging their last batch of patients. Other centers planned for construction or refurbishment have been stalled indefinitely due to lack of funds.
This closure means that hundreds of addicts now roam the streets untreated and uncared for, with no facility to turn to for detoxification or counseling. According to records from the Ministry of Social Welfare, since the declaration of the national drug emergency, only about 400 patients have been rehabilitated out of an estimated 5,000 who urgently need treatment.
The reality is grim: the youthful population is vanishing — consumed by kush-related deaths, violent crime, and mental health breakdowns. Yet, instead of confronting this humanitarian disaster with urgency, the state’s top officials are engaged in public relations deflection, insisting that the crisis is under control.
This persistent denial has become as dangerous as the drug itself. It breeds complacency, discourages transparency, and undermines the few professionals genuinely trying to contain the epidemic. Even worse, it silences those within the system who dare to speak truth to power — making honest discussions about the scale of the devastation appear disloyal or politically inconvenient.
If this trend continues, Sierra Leone risks losing an entire generation to kush while the authorities debate semantics and statistics. The closure of rehabilitation centers, the neglect of enforcement agencies, and the refusal to face hard truths are collectively pushing the country toward a social collapse.
Unless the government moves from denial to decisive action — by reopening and funding rehab facilities, empowering the NDLEA, and engaging communities — the “war on kush” will remain nothing more than a tragic slogan, and President Bio’s emergency declaration will go down as a promise betrayed by indifference.