How synthetic drugs are having devastating effect around world

Synthetic drugs have a history of taking hold where society has abandoned its most vulnerable, writes Joseph Janes, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Swansea University

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IN THE blistering heat of Freetown, Sierra Leone, young men gather on street corners, their limbs swollen, eyes glazed. ‘They are the victims of kush, a cheap and deadly synthetic drug sweeping the country.

But kush is not an isolated tragedy. From the townships of apartheid South Africa to the 2lst-century streets of the UK, synthetic drugs have a long history of flourishing in places where society has abandoned its most vulnerable.

Kush first appeared in Sierra Leone in around 2016, but its spread in recent years has been nothing short of catastrophic. Between 2020 and 2023, psychiatric admissions linked to the drug skyrocketed to a reported 1,865 cases at the country's only psychiatric hospital.

The drug claims mostly young men between the ages of 18 and 25, whose bodies are ravaged by kush’s toxic effects. Doctors in Freetown estimate that hundreds of users have died from organ failure caused by the drug in recent months.

Sierra’ Leone's president, Julius Maada Bio, branded kush a “death trap” and declared a national emergency. The drug, he says, represents an “existential crisis” for the nation.

Kush is both cheap and easily accessible, sold openly on the streets for as little as 20 pence per joint. But for those hooked on it, the cost can climb to £8 a day.

‘This is a staggering sum in a country where the average income barely exceeds £4,000 a year.

‘The drug’s ingredients are equally chilling. A mix of cannabis, synthetic opioids like fentanyl, formalin (used in embalming) and, according to some reports, ground human bone, it's a concoction that speaks to the bleakness of life for those who turn to it.