Her hands tremble. If she doesn't smoke kush, she feels nauseous, gets cold chills, and feels terribly ill, she says. Her three children live with her father, who takes care of them. This young mother is one of the victims of kush, the life-threatening designer drug that has gripped West Africa. Women like her risk being overlooked in this drug crisis.
Kush has long been known as a major problem in neighboring Sierra Leone, but it is also claiming many victims in Liberia. It is estimated that one in five young people use illegal drugs, increasingly kush. A dose can be bought from a street dealer for about 50 euro cents. The president of Liberia calls it a drug epidemic and declared a national health crisis in 2024.
By post from the Netherlands
Kush, a synthetic drug, is also known as the zombie drug. After smoking, users can walk the streets disoriented and numb. Others become paranoid and seriously injure themselves, sometimes by banging their heads against a wall. The drug has already cost thousands of young lives in West Africa.
Research by Clingendael and Global Initiative showed that kush contains, among other things, nitazenes, very strong opioids. These are powerful painkillers, dozens of times stronger than heroin, which can suppress breathing and be fatal in overdose.
The same research also revealed that the raw materials for the drug come from afar. The Netherlands and the United Kingdom are the main suppliers of the components. Dealers send the raw materials by sea and airmail to West Africa. Once there, the substance is sprayed as a liquid onto plant material and then sold on the street.
Liberian authorities publicly burned seized drugs multiple times this summer as a signal to drug cartels:
Women in Liberia risk being overlooked in the drug crisis. Shame about their addiction, fear of judgment, and the fear of losing their children make them less visible and harder to seek help. While quitting kush independently is difficult due to severe withdrawal symptoms. The craving for a dose is so strong that users resort to begging or stealing.
For the young mother on the street, her addiction also makes her extremely vulnerable to sexual exploitation. "Men have sex with me without paying me because I am high and dizzy." She says she wants nothing more than to stop and care for her children. That is why she fervently hopes for a place in a rehab clinic. But these are scarce and expensive.
Taking matters into their own hands
Some women refuse to stand by. Gertrude Harris saw the growing number of young women on the streets and decided five years ago to take action with other women. They started their own clinic in a country where women still face deep-rooted inequality and limited access to healthcare and economic opportunities.
The clinic of the foundation Women Rescue Daughters is located just outside the capital Monrovia, where the tropical forest begins. Without foreign support, caregivers there shelter women for nine months. Only women who want to quit on their own initiative are admitted. Once inside, they receive medical treatment and the detox process begins.
According to Harris, this can be intense. "Sometimes they completely lose it. It takes a few days for the stuff to leave their system. After that, they immediately become calm."
The women then learn new skills. They cook, bake bread, make clothing and other products. "We have already helped hundreds of women here and it remains very special for me to see them now busy with this," says Harris, showing bags, flower arrangements, and cloths. "We want to give a new meaning to their lives here again."
Dignity
In the clinic, women also find support with each other. Because of their kush addiction, their environment often wants nothing to do with them anymore. Some women have lost contact with their family, partner, or children and are on their own.
The 27-year-old Jacqueline arrived pregnant and gave birth shortly after. "They took me to the hospital where I gave birth. They paid all the bills and now take care of me and my baby."
The intention is that after their treatment, women can build a new life and hopefully not relapse into their old one. "Since I have been here, I look so much better than during my addiction," says Jacqueline. "I feel human again."
A broad smile appears on her face. "I am really proud of myself."