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       lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
       
       
       ARTICLE VIEW: 
       
       /
       
       Sierra Leone declares national emergency after steep rise in use of
       deadly synthetic drug kush
       
       Story by Reuters
       
       Updated: 
       
       12:39 PM EDT, Tue April 16, 2024
       
       Source: CNN
       
       President Julius Maada Bio has declared a national emergency on
       substance abuse following calls on his government to crack down on the
       rising use of a cheap and sometimes deadly synthetic drug known as
       kush.
       
       The highly addictive mix of , fentanyl and tramadol has caused hundreds
       of deaths and psychiatrically damaged scores of users since it first
       appeared in Sierra Leone around four years ago, according to the
       government. There are no official figures on the exact number of
       deaths.
       
       Bio announced the national emergency in a late night address on
       Thursday, deploring what he said were “the destructive consequences
       of kush on our country’s very foundation: our young people.”
       
       He said a national task force on substance abuse – involving all
       sectors of society and supervised by a presidential advisory team –
       would be set up to implement a five-step strategy for what he called a
       drug-free future.
       
       Kush’s low price makes it accessible to disillusioned, unemployed
       youth in Sierra Leone, where around a quarter of the population lives
       in poverty. The drug is also found in the neighboring West nation of
       Liberia.
       
       Local communities have called on the government to tackle the scourge
       and help them deal with drug users.
       
       The head of Sierra Leone’s only psychiatric hospital, Abdul Jalloh,
       welcomed Bio’s declaration as a crucial step towards addressing drug
       use.
       
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