By Aminata Abu Bakarr Kamara
In Sierra Leone today, a silent crisis is unfolding one that runs deeper than the drug packets scattered in our streets or the arrests filling our headlines. The rise of kush and tramadol abuse among young people is not just about addiction or lawlessness. It is, at its core, a reflection of our nation’s long-standing neglect of mental health and the stigma that continues to suffocate honest conversations around it.
For years, discussions about mental health in Sierra Leone have been cloaked in silence, shame, and superstition. When someone begins to act strangely or shows signs of emotional distress, the first instinct in many communities is to label them as possessed” or mad. Instead of receiving care, they are mocked, ostracized, or even chained. This deep-rooted stigma has turned mental health into one of the most ignored public health crises of our time.
Behind the smoke of kush and the haze of tramadol lies a generation battling invisible wounds depression, anxiety, trauma, and hopelessness. Many of these young people are not criminals; they are victims of a broken system that offers little mental health support, limited employment opportunities, and almost no safe spaces for emotional healing.
The heartbreaking scenes of young men sleeping under bridges, in unfinished buildings, or on market verandas are not simply tales of addiction. They are symptoms of a much larger, systemic problem. Sierra Leone’s health infrastructure, though improving in other sectors, remains dangerously under-resourced when it comes to mental health. The country has only a handful of psychiatrists, few mental health nurses, and underfunded facilities struggling to meet growing demand. Families are often left to fend for themselves, turning to traditional healers or spiritual interventions that may soothe the spirit but rarely heal the mind.
The stigma attached to mental illness makes matters even worse. People fear seeking help because of ridicule or rejection. Even when they gather the courage to reach out, there are very few services available to support them. As a result, thousands especially the youth suffer in silence until they find a destructive escape in substances that numb the pain but slowly consume their lives.
It is time for Sierra Leone to confront this crisis head-on. The government, civil society, health practitioners, faith leaders, and the media must join forces to change the narrative around mental health. Mental illness must be treated as a legitimate health issue, not as a curse or moral failure. Public awareness campaigns should be launched in schools, mosques, churches, and communities to encourage early intervention, empathy, and understanding.
Furthermore, the fight against kush and tramadol cannot be won through police raids and mass arrests alone. What is needed is a holistic, compassionate approach one that combines law enforcement with rehabilitation, counseling, and social reintegration. Mental health services must be integrated into the primary health care system, ensuring that support is available and affordable in every community, particularly in high-risk areas like Freetown, Makeni, and Bo.
If we continue to treat mental health as a taboo, Sierra Leone will keep losing its brightest minds to drugs, despair, and neglect. The stigma is not just silencing individuals it is robbing the nation of its potential.
The time to act is now. Let us replace judgment with empathy, ignorance with awareness, and stigma with support, only then can Sierra Leone begin to heal not just from the scars of kush, but from the deeper wounds that have long been ignored. True recovery will not come from cleansing the streets of drugs, but from healing the hearts and minds of the people who walk them.
Copyright –Published in Expo Times News on Friday, 7th Noverber 2025 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)
