A synthetic drug ravages youth in Sierra Leone. There’s little help, and some people are chained

By KEMO CHAM
Associated Press

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leone this year declared a war on the cheap synthetic drug called kush, calling it an epidemic and a national threat. The drug is ravaging youth, and healthcare services are severely limited. Some compare the wave of addiction to another pandemic after COVID and West Africa’s devastating Ebola outbreak a decade ago. One frustrated community in the capital has set up what it calls a treatment center for drug users. Its volunteers seize people at families’ request and sometimes chain them. It’s an echo of a practice the country’s only psychiatric hospital previously used. One parent says he’s grateful for it.