By Awa DK Conteh
In recent decades, youth drug use has become a cause of increasing concern across Africa and has inspired hardening drug control measures. However, consistently missing from drug narra-tives is a deeper engagement with young people themselves on why they use drugs and an un-derstanding of the social, economic and cultural forces that shape their interactions with drugs.
In The Gambia youth have engaged in the use of synthetic marijuana/drug called “Kush.” It is popular-ly known to be a variant of marijuana (weed), which a lot of young people smoke nowadays to make them ‘feel good’.
In an interview with Gambia Daily, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) for Drug Law Enforcement Agency (DLEAG), Mr. Saidyba, explained that there is a big difference between addiction and what is called drug-induced psychosis (DIP) which is all under the category of substance use disorder.
He however mentioned the use of drug for non- medical purpose which is mostly orchestrated by youths who occupy a delicate and sensitive influence within the population.
He disclosed that in The Gambia, Cannabis sativa remains the most commonly abused illicit drug, that individuals of varying ages and economic class abuse it due to its affordability. “Moreover, other forms of controlled and prohibited drugs like cocaine, heroin, diazepam and clonazepam are also abused”.
Mr Saidybah indicated that most of the people arrested with illicit drugs particularly cannabis were Gambians. However he was quick to say that quite a lot of foreign nationals are also involved in the exploitation and trafficking of hard drugs and this is a serious number affecting mostly youths.
Elizabeth, a Kush victim explained: “When I smoke Kush, it gives me strength and courage to do my sex work. Outspokenly, “I am not happy to smoke Kush, but it is the only thing that gives me the power, strength, and courage to do my sex job”.
Kadiatu Lahaia, a commercial sex worker, disclosed that after using Kush she can have sex with up to five men in a night.
Musa Camara also indicated that they smoke Kush to feel good and get the strength and power to carry out their daily activities.
Camara said he started smoking Kush as a result of peer influence.“The first time I smoked Kush, I felt my right foot was missing. I started accusing my friends of stealing my money, not knowing that my money was in my bag; my friends laughed about it but ensured that I remained seated until the dose subsidized,” he added.
He therefore warned that Kush is a bad drug which can make someone get seriously embarrassed. He however admitted that his system has gotten used to the drug and it hardly affects him like the way it did the first time he took it.
Lamin Fatty, a victim of Kush disclosed that he has been using Kush for more than 4 years and the re-sults of the outcome was not good which leads him to the extent of losing his family’s trust and feel abandoned by them.
“Kush looks a bit different from marijuana, and its reaction on them is quite different from the reac-tion they get after smoking marijuana,” he explained.
Mr. Fatty concluded that he realised smoking Kush or any other drugs is not good for his health. He thanked God that he was helped by his wife, who encouraged him to stop smoking..
Mr. Ebrima Bah, a nursing officer at the Tanka Tanka Psychiatric hospital, said looking at the history of patients admitted in Tanka Tanka almost 80 percent of them have drug related problems. “The most common type of mental disorders we have here is called drug-induced psychosis”.
Mr Bah revealed that the control use of drug is not playing the needed dividend and thus the need to pursue alternative means of drug control in The Gambia.
