Cemeteries are bolstering their security measures because gravediggers are stealing human bones to make powerful synthetic drugs, local journalists told Business Insider.
AdvertisementA vendor sells daily necessities at a market in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Feb. 21, 2024.
Formaldehyde also has euphoric properties, says the National Library of Medicine, which explains why kush users could be raiding Freetown's cemeteries.
JOHN WESSELS | Getty ImagesJalloh noted that the use of synthetic drugs was not unique to Sierra Leone.
ReutersIn 2015, BI's Erin Brodwin covered the rise of these synthetic drugs, marketed as "spice," "K2," "black mamba," or "crazy clown."
Persons:
—, Sierra, Julius Maada, Michael Cole, Sally Hayden, JOHN WESSELS, Cole, Mabinty Magdalene Kamar, Abdul Jalloh, HUGH KINSELLA CUNNINGHAM, Thomas Dixon, Jalloh, Salifu Kamara, kush, BI's Erin Brodwin, Brodwin, tranq
Organizations:
Service, Business, Xinhua News Agency, Getty, Anglia Ruskin University, The Irish Times, National Library of Medicine, Politico, Sierra, Sierra Leone Psychiatric Teaching Hospital, Police, Getty Images Local, Salone Times, BBC, Freetown Police Force, National Drug Agency, NPR, Guardian, Disease Control, Prevention, Reuters, Financial Times
Locations:
Freetown, African, Sierra Leone, West Africa, Mabinty, Waterloo , Sierra Leone, kush, New York City, New York, Kensington, North Philadelphia