AYV News, September 9, 2025
The Mayor of Freetown, Her Worship Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, has revealed that the Freetown City Council has buried 142 Kush victims since the start of the year to date, while calling for urgent action to stop the Kush supply chain and address what she described as a “national crisis”.
The mayor said the alarming rate at which young people are dying from Kush abuse, coupled with the lack of decisive action to tackle the problem, undermines the very foundation of human capital development, hence questioning the government’s claims of advancing human capital development.
She said the reality on the ground tells a different story from what the government is claiming to have achieved in promoting human capital development, noting that Kush abuse has become a significant problem in the country.
On 6 June 2024, President Dr. Julius Maada Bio declared a national emergency on substance abuse, with a focus on Kush, following a reported rise in Kush-related fatalities. He committed to establishing a national task force on substance abuse, overseen by a presidential advisory team. Strategies to address the crisis include both treatment and support for addicts, as well as strengthening law enforcement measures to dismantle drug trafficking networks and to hold traffickers accountable.
