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

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

SeattlePI.com

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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.

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