[By Renewal News Network Researchers.]

A fierce debate is underway in Sierra Leone over when the synthetic drug known as Kush first appeared. Some voices, including a few in positions of influence, claim it was already in circulation as early as 2016 or 2017. Others (journalists, researchers and policy analysts) argue that no credible evidence supports such an early timeline.

The dispute goes beyond semantics. It concerns how a nation records, understands and ultimately responds to one of its most devastating social crises. If the past is rewritten, accountability becomes blurred.

In any debate about historical authenticity, evidence must speak louder than assertion. Primary contemporaneous sources—newspapers, radio transcripts, policy documents, court and police records from the claimed period—are the gold standard. Secondary analyses, such as think-tank reports or academic papers that cite those sources, come next. The least reliable are retrospective claims, written years later, with no verifiable citations.

After a comprehensive review of available records, the conclusion is unambiguous: there are no contemporary reports confirming Kush use in Sierra Leone before 2022.

The origins of the confusion

As the Kush crisis worsened over the past few years, some commentators began inserting unsubstantiated early dates into their narratives—often implying that journalists and policymakers ignored the problem for years. This quiet rewriting of history has gained traction, despite the lack of supporting evidence.

Silence, in this case, is telling. Between 2015 and 2018, Sierra Leone’s newspapers, broadcasters and political manifestos made no mention of Kush. None of the major parties' 2018 election platforms contained the word. If the drug had been a visible social menace by 2016 or 2017, it would almost certainly have appeared in political rhetoric or media reporting.

The first verifiable reports: 2022

The earliest confirmed documentation appears on 7 February 2022, when the BBC released a film containing “upsetting scenes, drug use, and references to self-harm and suicide” among users of Kush. “A cheap new illegal drug is ravaging communities in Sierra Leone,” the BBC reported, quoting medical staff in Freetown who said that 90% of male psychiatric admissions were linked to Kush.

BBC Africa Eye reporter Tyson Conteh was the first journalist to investigate the phenomenon on camera. (Kush: Sierra Leone’s new illegal drug – BBC News)

On 3 November 2022, the Freetown-based outlet Sierraloaded published “Kush, the ‘Sleeping Drug’ Slowly Killing Sierra Leonean Youth.” The article observed: “The arrival of Kush in Sierra Leone … certainly came to the spotlight sometime around 2020/2021.”
(sierraloaded.sl/feature/kush-sleeping-drug-killing-sierra-leonean-youth)

Two weeks later, on 17 November 2022, the Concord Times reported a criminal conviction under the headline “Three Imprisoned for Selling Over 4,000 Wraps of ‘Kush’.” (allafrica.com/stories/202211180077.html)

These remain the first verifiable, dated references to Kush in both international and local Sierra Leonean media.

Intensified international spotlight: 2023–24

By 29 August 2023, the BBC was reporting that “Sierra Leone is considering declaring a public health emergency over a cheap and illicit drug known as Kush that’s harming young lives. The effects are devastating.” (BBC World Service - Focus on Africa, Sierra Leone considers health emergency over illegal drug Kush)

On 16 November 2023, The Week in London published “Kush: The Drug Destroying Young Lives in West Africa”, describing a sharp rise in addiction in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia: “The effects are immediate and intense… users say it brings on ‘the Kush devil’, causing them to fit, fall asleep standing up, wander into oncoming traffic or self-harm.” (theweek.com/health/kush-the-drug-destroying-young-lives-in-west-afric a)

On 5 April 2024, Reuters reported that President Julius Maada Bio had declared a national emergency on substance abuse: “Sierra Leone’s President … has declared a national emergency on substance abuse following calls on his government to crack down on the rising use of a cheap and sometimes deadly synthetic drug known as Kush.” (reuters.com/world/africa/sierra-leone-declares-national-emergency-drug-abuse-2024-04-05)

The BBC revisited the story on 19 June 2024 with its follow-up documentary “Kush: Into the Mad World”, delving deeper into addiction and despair across Freetown. (BBC World Service TV - Africa Eye, Kush: Into the Mad World)

Analytical confirmation: 2025

In early 2025, the Clingendael Institute and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime released a joint report stating: “Since 2022, a synthetic drug known as ‘Kush’ has likely killed thousands of people in West Africa. Kush emerged in Sierra Leone but quickly spread across countries in the sub-region.” (Clingendael Institute report)

The report corroborates the media timeline, confirming that Kush entered Sierra Leone’s public consciousness only in 2022.

The danger of rewriting history

Why, then, do some persist in backdating the drug’s emergence? Most of these claims originate in recent retrospective commentaries. They offer no citations, no digitised articles, no scanned newspaper clippings, and no official documentation. In some cases, the backdating appears politically convenient—shifting responsibility by implying that earlier administrations failed to act.

But repetition does not equal truth. Historical accuracy shapes how governments, researchers and communities understand crises. Fabricating timelines undermines accountability.

This revisionism also suggests, wrongly, that journalists—those who chronicle national life—were negligent or compromised for failing to report on Kush between 2016 and 2017. It further undermines the credibility of medical professionals, whose records show no evidence of Kush-related admissions during those years.

Why the timeline matters for policy

If Kush only entered public consciousness in 2022, as the evidence demonstrates, Sierra Leone is confronting an acute, fast-moving emergency—not a slow-burning scourge. That distinction matters. It determines how quickly resources are mobilised for treatment, community outreach and law enforcement. It also guards against the temptation to blame leaders for failing to act against a problem that was not yet visible.

Accurate chronology enables better epidemiological tracking, more effective rehabilitation planning and more honest political debate.

The truth still matters

The evidence speaks plainly. No verifiable media or policy record mentions Kush before 2022. Local reporting begins that year. International attention intensifies through 2023 and 2024. Analytical confirmation arrives in 2025.

Until primary sources from earlier years surface, any claim that Kush existed in Sierra Leone before 2022 remains unsubstantiated. Rewriting history may serve short-term narratives, but it does nothing to solve the crisis itself. Sierra Leone deserves a response grounded not in rumour or revision, but in verifiable fact.

The authors are researchers with the Renewal News Network