Sierra Leone’s Kush crisis: A socio-economic emergency hiding in plain sight
Sierra Leone’s Kush crisis, declared a national emergency by Julius Maada Bio, has rapidly spread among youth in Freetown, with severe social and health impacts. This policy brief draws on a mixed-methods study of 400 active Kush users, alongside interviews with dealers, policymakers, families, and focus groups with 50 rehabilitation programme graduates. It provides rare, systematic evidence on who uses Kush, why use begins, and pathways to recovery. The findings highlight three urgent priorities: scaling community-based prevention, rigorously evaluating the flagship rehabilitation programme, and investing in sustainable social and economic reintegration.
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- Kush does not prey on the already impoverished — it creates impoverishment: two thirds of active users were employed before first use, yet nearly two thirds now report unstable or very unstable income.
- Social networks, not desperation, drive initiation: peer pressure is cited by over 60% of users as their primary motivation for first use, with one in six starting before age 18.
- The government's rehabilitation programme shows promise but has not been rigorously evaluated: six batches have been completed without a robust assessment of what works, for whom, and why.
- Recovery requires social and economic reintegration: 91% of users report serious damage to family and social relationships, and 88% of programme graduates were unemployed at the time of interview.