The Main Ingredients in Sierra Leone’s Kush are Synthetic Opioids and Cannabinoids, Report Finds

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. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu, File)

By WILSON MCMAKIN

11:43 AM EST, February 25, 2025

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — 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.

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.

“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. “Illustratively, in 2023 in Estonia and Latvia, 48% and 28% of drug deaths, respectively, were attributable to nitazenes. One of the nitazenes detected in kush is 25 times more potent than fentanyl.”

Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio last year declared a war on kush, calling it an epidemic and a national threat. He launched a task force on drug and substance abuse, promising to lead a government approach focused on prevention and treatment involving law enforcement and community engagement. 

“We believe kush is the first case of nitazenes penetrating West Africa’s drug markets. This reflects global trends, which show nitazenes and associated fatalities surging globally since late 2022,” the report stated.

When contacted by phone, one of the authors of the report, Lucia Bird Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo, described the path that kush is taking to arrive in West Africa.

Originally shipped as a finished product, increasingly precursor chemicals are ordered from China via online sites like Alibaba and then combined in labs in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown. Once combined, the now psychoactive liquid is sprayed onto plant material intended to be smoked and sold as kush.

There are persistent rumors about the ingredients in kush ranging from tramadol, a common pain reliever, to human bones. However, the report is careful to state that researchers uncovered no evidence of either while testing various samples.

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. The synthetic opioids and cannabinoids within the drugs are highly addictive and have ravaged Sierra Leone in recent years.

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.

As demand for the addictive components of kush has increased, the report describes how overdose rates have increased as a result of new recipes and increased usage.

“Nitazenes started being linked to a material number of overdose deaths in the US, and were first detected by the EU early warning system in 2019,” the report said. “Since then, their presence has expanded to South America, Asia and Oceania, with global detections and overdose incidents rising sharply.”