And yet, among the 50 people — majority of whom are kush users — who filed into one of Sierra Leone’s two government-run rehab centers on a recent day, only three were women.

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 ...

Kush, a synthetic cocktail usually made from marshmallow leaves, first appeared in Sierra Leone in the early 2020s and ...

Kush, primarily used by males between the ages of 18 and 25, induces episodes of sleepwalking. As Kush takes its toll on Sierra Leone, more users are dying from organ failure within the nation’s ...

A young man smokes kush at a hideout in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Monday, April 29, 2024. Sierra Leone declared a war on the cheap synthetic drug, calling it an epidemic and a national threat.

FILE - A young man smokes Kush, a derivative of cannabis mixed with synthetic drugs like fentanyl and tramadol and chemicals like formaldehyde, at a hideout in Freetown, Sierra Leone, April 29, 2024.

They’re boning up to get high. Addicts digging up human bones as part of a recipe to make the drug kush has become a national emergency in Sierra Leone and is slowly moving to other West African ...

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 ...

Sierra Leone's government has declared a public health emergency over the drug Kush. Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

And yet, among the 50 people — majority of whom are kush users — who filed into one of Sierra Leone’s two government-run rehab centers on a recent day, only three were women.