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"The boy was only 15 years old. He couldn't stand it, he left".

More and more young people are becoming addicted to a substance known as kush or K2.

The use of this drug can have fatal consequences.

There are already the first victims, writes Deutsche Welle.

It is a substance that is rolled up and smoked like a cigarette.

And the frequent cases in Sierra Leone and Guinea show that this drug is very dangerous: after just a few drags you feel numb and can't stand on your feet.

But despite the dangerous consequences, people who use kush try their best to get more and more of the intoxicating substance.

"I'm addicted to something bad, but I don't use it too often. After a stressful day, I come home and consume it to calm down and sleep," a young man from Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, told DV.

And he admits that friends encouraged him to try the illegal drug.

Children are drugged with eye drops

"I smoke kush. When I didn't have kush, I smoked marijuana," said another man, who also wished to remain anonymous.

"It makes me feel good, it takes me away. Then I reach for an energy drink because that thing makes you want to drink something cold."

Social media in Sierra Leone has been flooded with photos and videos of young men caught in embarrassing situations after using the drug.

"This new drug, called kush, is now widely distributed in Sierra Leone," Niamakoro Sarata Sila, a retired nurse, told DV.

According to her, after using kush, people are simply not themselves - for example, they walk in the middle of the street or suddenly fall asleep straight.

Another addict trying to quit the drug warns of possible serious consequences, including death.

"I work in health care and I advise young people to stop using this drug," the man says, adding that he has seen a young person die after consuming kush.

"He was having trouble breathing. He was on an oxygen machine, but he wasn't going to last. The boy was only 15 years old."

Neighboring Guinea is also trying to curb the growing use of kush.

Authorities say more than a dozen young men have died after consuming the drug, and dozens are being treated for side effects.

"I smoked kush with a friend until we ended up in the hospital unconscious," says Alpha Barry, who until recently was heavily addicted to the drug.

"My friend died, they couldn't save him. That's why I'm warning the Guinean youth to avoid this drug. Kush destroys a person. It literally kills," says Barry.

Guinea and Sierra Leone share a border that is not heavily guarded.

Many Guineans blame drug traffickers from Sierra Leone for smuggling kush into the country.

Abdoulaye Sangare, a police officer in the anti-narcotics department, says they recently arrested four people suspected of trafficking 1,500 grams of kush in Guinea.

"If one gram can kill one person, how many people will 1,500 grams kill?" he asks rhetorically.

Sierra Leoneans living in Guinea now fear they may be branded because of increasing cases of kush abuse, the Telegraph also reports.

"What the Guinean authorities fail to understand is that the drug kush can be produced both in Sierra Leone and in Guinea," Joseph Kargbo, a respected member of the community of Sierra Leoneans living in Guinea, told DV .

He called on the Guinean authorities not to place all the blame on Sierra Leone, but to work together with parents and all stakeholders to inform young people about the dangers of kush consumption.