Sierra Leone and other neighboring West African countries are suffering the devastating effects of a new drug called Kush, which is responsible for the deaths of dozens of users and the hospitalization of thousands more every week. This substance causes its users, typically men between the ages of 18 and 25, to become drowsy while walking, stumbling, banging their heads on solid surfaces, and jumping into traffic.
This Kush should not be confused with the drug of the same name, which is consumed in the United States and consists of a mixture of chemicals that vary depending on the day, added to a base of synthetic marijuana and smoked. Sierra Leone Kush is very different: it is a preparation made from cannabis, fentanyl, tramadol, formaldehyde and, according to some, pulverized human bones. Local gangs are responsible for mixing these products, which are imported from abroad and easily available over the Internet.
While cannabis is widely grown in Sierra Leone, fentanyl appears to come from secret Chinese laboratories where the drug is illegally manufactured and then exported to West Africa. Tramadol has a similar origin: illegal laboratories across the Asian continent. It appears that this preparation also contains formaldehyde, which can cause hallucinations.
As for ground human bones, there are no clear conclusions about whether or not they are included in the drug, where they come from and why they are mixed with the other ingredients. Some say they are delivered by grave robbers, but there is no solid evidence of this.
What would ground bones be used for? Some suggest that the sulfur content of the bones can cause a high. Another justification for their use would be the traces of narcotics they would contain if the deceased had consumed fentanyl or tramadol. Be that as it may, both cases are unlikely. On the one hand, the sulfur content in bones is not very significant; In addition, smoking sulfur would lead to the production and inhalation of highly toxic sulfur dioxide. On the other hand, any trace of anesthetic in the bones is minimal enough to produce physiological effects.
Where does it circulate?
There is evidence that the drugs are in Guinea and Liberia, countries that have porous land borders with Sierra Leone, facilitating drug trafficking.
Each Kush joint costs five leones (around 20 euro cents) and two or three people can smoke it, which corresponds to consuming up to 40 cigarettes daily. These figures represent exorbitant spending on drugs and highlight the addictive nature of the narcotic in a country where the annual per capita income is almost 500 pounds (approx. 600 euros).
The effect of the medication varies and depends on the user and the content. Cannabis causes a variety of effects, such as euphoria, relaxation or altered perception. Fentanyl, an extremely powerful opioid, causes euphoria and confusion as well as drowsiness and many other side effects. Along the same lines, tramadol, also an opioid but less potent than fentanyl (100 milligrams of tramadol has the same effect as 10 milligrams of morphine), induces a state of drowsiness and drowsiness in users, thereby disconnecting them from their surroundings.
The drug is doubly dangerous: on the one hand, due to the risk of self-harm on the part of the user; and on the other hand, by the active nature of the substance itself. Another problem is the need to finance the next dose, which is usually obtained through prostitution or criminal activities.
Kush is another example of drug combinations that forensic scientists are becoming increasingly aware of. Another is Nyaope or Whoonga, a tobacco and cannabis-based drug consumed in South Africa, to which heroin and antiretroviral drugs are added to treat AIDS, some of which cause hallucinations. Another polydrug, the white pipe, is a combination of methaqualone (or mandrax, a sedative), cannabis and tobacco, smoked in the southern countries of the continent.
These drugs are cheap and, especially in West Africa, are used to escape the lack of job opportunities, the harshness of life in poverty, sexual and physical abuse and, in some cases, the effects of time as a child soldier.
The effectiveness of the anti-Kush legislation itself is questionable, and many who turn to the few rehabilitation centers become addicted again. An integrated forensic health system may be required in which regulatory control is accompanied by appropriately equipped rehabilitation centers and public health and employment programs. It remains to be seen what changes will be made to respond to this epidemic.
Michael Cole He is Professor of Forensics at Anglia Ruskin University (UK).
This article was originally published in The Conversation and translated in collaboration with Casa África. Translation: Eduard Galan.
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