- Some people in Sierra Leone have taken to digging up corpses to steal bones to make ‘Zombie’ drug
- Sierra Leone’s president declares state of emergency to try and crack down on it
- Drug gives users a ‘zombie’-like appearance
This may sound like something out of a horror movie, but some people in Sierra Leone have taken to digging up dead bodies to try and get ingredients to make a ‘Zombie’ drug.
The drug in question, xylazine, often known as ‘tranq’ or ‘kush’ is a highly addictive psychoactive drug. Abuse of the drug has become rampant in Sierra Leone in recent years.
The drug is usually used as a tranquiliser in the veterinary industry. It is often mixed with other drugs such as fentanyl or cocaine, but some allegedly add powdered human bone too – hence why some are said to have turned to grave robbing to source the ingredient. It is known as a ‘zombie’ drug as users have an unconscious, shambling appearance.
To try and stop this, authorities in the country have upped the security around cemeteries to stop graves being robbed. Sierra Leone’s president, Julius Maada Bio has declared at national emergency over abuse of the drug, which he has called a ‘death trap.’
Abuse of the drug has led to the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital seeing admissions rise by 4000% between 2020 and 2023, according to a report by the BBC.
President Bio made a televised broadcast earlier this month where he talked about the dangers of kush, and how it poses an “existential threat” to the country.
He is also looking to set up a national task force to address drug and substance abuse to combat the wave of addiction in the country. Currently, Sierra Leone has only one drug rehabilitation centre, which is in the capital, Freetown.
