Kush, a cheap synthetic drug, is ravaging Sierra Leone's youth

Описание: (27 May 2024)

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4496735

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Freetown, Sierra Leone - 29 April 2024
1. Various of men high on kush
2. Close of men rolling up kush, smoking

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Freetown, Sierra Leone - 28 April 2024
3. SOUNDBITE (Krio English) Muhammed Kamara, man who is addicted to kush:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
“I am a human being, I feel, I have feelings. Although (my mom) said that I don’t have a conscience and I don’t have feelings… sometimes, when sitting alone thinking how I was in the beginning, I feel like I am destroying myself and my future.”
4. Various of Muhammed Kamara, a man who is addicted to kush, sitting at the home he shares with his mother
5. Kamara and his mother Memunatu Kamara in their living room
6. Close of image from Memuatu Kamara’s phone of Muhammed Kamara when he was younger
7. Memunatu Kamara crying

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Freetown, Sierra Leone - 25 April 2024
8. Memunatu Kamara selling fish in the market
9. SOUNDBITE (Krio English) Memunatu Kamara, Muhammed Kamara's mother:
“I am ashamed, I feel pain, I am discouraged about this kush because the condition of my son is not good. I don’t know what else to do.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Freetown, Sierra Leone - 26 April 2024
10. Ephraim Macauley, who was formerly addicted to kush, walking in an area where he does outreach with a civil society organization that helps people addicted to kush
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Ephraim Macauley, peer educator with Sierra Leone Youth Development and Child Link (SLYDCL):
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
“Overcoming addiction was really not easy. It was one of the hardest steps in my life. Because it’s like you trying to get out of water when there is water all around you.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Freetown, Sierra Leone - 29 April 2024
12. Various of men smoking kush
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Antsu Kone, Director, Sierra Leone Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
“It is like a war. It’s not a one-month fight. So, because the president has declared a state of emergency, everybody now needs to come on board. Because kush is affecting everyone.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Freetown, Sierra Leone - 27 April 2024
14. Men preparing a makeshift shelter for someone to sleep in
ANNOTATION: In the neighborhood of Bombay, the community has come together to help people who are addicted to kush.
15. Men hanging out together in Bombay neighborhood
16. Man sleeping under a makeshift shelter
17. SOUNDBITE (English/Krio) Sulaiman Mansaray, Bombay Community Youth Leader:
“Since January 2024 when we started this project, almost 70 people have now changed their lives. We are glad when they come back to tell us thank you and they pray for us for changing their lives. But it has not been easy for us. It’s not easy for us because we are young guys and we are managing on our own and putting our time to ensure they are okay. But we did it for God, for our community, for Bombay, then for Sierra Leone, so that we can stop kush in our country.”
18. Men at rehab center

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Freetown, Sierra Leone - 25 April 2024
19. “No more kush” sign
STORYLINE:
In one of Freetown’s suburbs, Muhammed Kamara, 23, heads to his mother’s house, walking unsteadily past closed shops and construction sites.

Kamara is addicted to kush, a cheap, synthetic drug that has wreaked havoc on the country’s youth.


“Sometimes, when sitting alone thinking how I was in the beginning, I feel like I am destroying myself and my future,” Kamara said from his mother’s living room.












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