The report by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime conducted the first known testing of the most common varieties of kush available in Sierra Leone and neighboring West African countries and found that it contained either nitazenes or synthetic cannabinoids.
A new report released Tuesday by an anti-transnational crime group has identified the core chemical components of kush, a synthetic drug that has swept through Sierra Leone and the region in the past few years.
“Nitazenes are potent and often deadly synthetic opioids that have spread rapidly across global retail drug markets, including European countries, particularly since 2022," the report reads.
The drug has inspired local corruption, which has become endemic within some neighborhoods of Freetown, with ‘cartels’ the local name for kush smoking bars, sometimes popping up within meters (yards) of police stations and the police tasking bar owners with community policing of their own patrons.
Since its introduction into the retail drug market of West Africa, kush has soared in popularity as deaths associated with it have also soared, according to the report.
