By Mohamed Dauda Kamara
P.C. AP News
On Social Media, when we see how kush-addicts are dishonorably buried, it is easy to grieve, to sympathize and to drop a sad emoji. But it’s hard to act, it’s hard to challenge a system that does not oppress a well-organized narcotic gang that is smoldering futures into early graves.
When we see Kush addicts clogged on the streets, on pavements, looking gaunt, haggard, and half-alive, it’s too easy to blame them, and it’s too easy to say ‘we cannot blame the government for their (kush-addicts) own downfall.’ They brought it upon themselves. Let them wither, perish and decay like dead leaves.” We make it sound as though being addicted to kush is a “curse” from our ancestral lineage, sent down to punish them for smoking it, or for disobeying their sacred, earthly commands.
When we see kush addicts sleeping on the streets like zombies, helpless, wane and half-dead, it’s easy to say ‘Kush is a synthetic drug, designed to cripple unserious youths,’ but it’s very hard to ask why hasn’t the government launched stringent crackdowns on the man-eating drug and its dealers?
When we see our youths hopelessly lying on the streets, taunted by a drug that was designed to steal their futures away from them, it’s too easy for our youth activists to gather in air-conditioned conferences, delivering pretentious, applauding speeches on how our youths are the leaders of today, but it’s hard to ask why must the leaders of today lose their leadership badge to a “future-kidnapping” drug?
The issue with kush is no longer malleable, it’s a congruent, slow-killing drug, preying on the flesh and bones of our youths.
The issue with kush is no longer a hide-and-seek, it’s a loudly defunct, yet overlooked state issue. The issue with kush is no longer entirely about what the government and its partners have done to quell its detrimental inroads, it’s also about what we have done as youths. Is it about speeches? Or is it about action? Meaningful actions that effect change, meaningful actions that demand reforms, meaningful actions that can put the kush-dealers on their toes, meaningful actions that will look like a litmus test, tried, won and conquered. The issue with Kush is no longer about who has died, it’s about who is dying and who will die. The issue with kush feels like a shipwrecked, abandoned and ignored, yet the extravagant lifestyles it offers to its dealers have made it even more difficult to fight. The issue with kush is a tragedy, striking through every part of the country like an unfillable gash. The issue with Kush is not quelling, it’s heightening.
The proliferation of Kush is no longer a tender swig, it’s everything deadly that threatens the future of this country, it’s everything dangerous that does not cease to kill our youths. The proliferation of Kush is no longer an impermanent reality, it’s a pulsing siege heaped over our youths, unopposed.
But the brave hypocrisy hidden beneath our fight against Kush, the staunch ridicule found underneath our fight against Kush, have exposed our betrayal to humanity.
What we feel should not just be grief, not just sympathy, it should be guilt, it should be shame. We are all guilty of our silence, we are all guilty of not acting, we are all guilty of the hike in the death toll. We, therefore, honourably have a share of failing our youths.
If the government wants to fight out Kush, it’s easy, it’s not hard as they make it seem. The fight against Kush is just not a priority on their list, it’s a side-chick, played and dumped. Of what value does it hold to say “we will fight this drug. We will save our youths. We will establish rehabilitation centers for them,” and then do nothing to cut off the supply? Of what value does it hold to say “we know the problem,” but we cannot solve the problem? We all know the problem, and we all have the solution: face the truth, be sincere, be intentional, and cut off the supply chain. Our indifference is opulent, it is an enabling disgrace.
Do we even know how many youths die daily? Do we even know how many youths have been buried since this deadly drug broke into the borders of this country? There is no substantive mathematical data, because they do not want us to know, because they do not want us to stage a protest, and because they do not want the crisis to end. But in sheer obviousness, we all know that thousands of our youths have died a dishonourable death, a disgraceful death and a pathetic death. Corpses, carrying signs of Kush, are found everywhere that are spacious. Yet, we still have the firm boldness to downplay a drug that has the power to excavate its venomous traits amongst us.
We are all here, avoiding the uncomfortable path to truth, denying the confrontation that comes with our demands for our rights to life. There is a painful sob in this country, a silent mourning, and uninterrupted procession of corpses to mass graves. There is an unending grief, mothers are burying their children too early because of Kush. There is shock, there is despair, there is discontent, and there is an evil blanket hovering over us. We must all be witness to justice in ways that demand justice, in ways that save souls, and in ways that end this epidemic. We must act now or never.
