‘It’s like smoking poison’: Sierra Leone’s youth battle addiction to a mystery drug

‘It targets our youth, the leaders of tomorrow’ … a teenage rehab patient at the City of Rest centre in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Photograph: HassaN Bangura/Topia Salone

One thing is certain in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, says 18-year-old Abdullah: you are never far from a kush dealer. Some call its impact the “kush devil”. For Abdullah, addiction resulted in him dropping out of school and begging on the street. Now he is staying at the City of Rest Rehabilitation Centre, one of Sierra Leone’s only rehab facilities.

A single joint of kush can cost 5 leones (20p), which can add up quickly when buying multiple joints a day – in a country where youth unemployment stands at 60%, one of the highest in west Africa.