For the past months, there have been several videos containing disturbing images of Sierra Leonean youth who had taken Kush drug violently rolling on the ground, sleeping while upright, or staggering like chickens that had been affected by flu.

These videos often show images of young people who engage in okada riding, omolankey riders, and other sets of young people in the country.

This writer has learned that on many of the streets especially in Freetown, the youth of all ages would be seen lining up staggering, and nodding at themselves clearly as a result of taking the drugs called Kush.

This writer has done a bit of reading on this drug and found out that the drug affects the brain of the consumer and its effects could lead to violent and dangerous behavior and can also lead to death.

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In addition, the effects could also include Paranoia and hallucination which can result in violent behavior and permanent mental health issue.

From the videos peddled on social media, one may believe that this drug can cause more harm to those who consume it than even what is being written about it.

Globally, the consumption of Kush has affected many young people in many countries including the United States of America, where in the state of Texas, legislatures tried to ban the chemical used in Kush in 2011, while in Houston, a fine of $2000 per package was imposed with police policing certain areas in various states to discourage people from taking the drug.

Despite the constant outpouring on social media of videos containing images of youth displaying violent behavior purportedly after taking the kush, this writer has not heard or seen any action from the Sierra Leone government aiming at addressing this problem.

This Kush issue is very dangerous for the youth of the country.

It also poses a serious risk for the future of the country as ideally, the youth of any country should be future leaders but if the future leaders are engaging in taking such dreadful drugs then there is a problem.

Some people spoke to arguably attributed the rampant kush consumption in the country to the current killing economic situation and also to lack of or insufficient government action to control the inflow of this drug into the county.

Some are even suggesting that highly placed influential people have hands in importing and the sales of these drugs into the country.

This writer wants to make it ostensibly clear that the issue of drugs in Sierra Leone is not new but the level at which this Kush is destroying the youth these days should be a thing every patriotic Sierra Leonean is worried about.

Even though some laws deal with illegal possession of drugs etc, this writer suggests that the government through parliament immediately passes laws that address the issue of Kush in the country, and such laws are implemented to the fullest by law enforcement agencies of the country.

This government should be reminded that there are inadequate facilities for holding mental health patients in the country and hardly any provisions available for taking care of mental health people in the country.

Therefore, anything that has the effects or propensity to destroy the brain of the citizens must be banned and stringent punishment including heavy fines levied against importers, vendors, and consumers of such drugs throughout the country.

But the loud silence on the part of the government to tackle this future threat to the youth of that country raises the concern whether the leaders including the most relevant ministries and the Presidency are paying attention to these youth who are perishing daily s a result of the consumption of Kush.
I rest my case.