Freetown, Sierra Leone – November 18, 2025: A High Court judge in Freetown has sentenced two women to five years in prison each after they admitted to illegally possessing 50 grams of the synthetic drug known as kush.
Justice Mark Ngegba handed down the sentences on Monday, November 17, to Mariama Thomas and Fatmata Kamara following their guilty pleas to one count each of unlawful possession of prohibited drugs, in violation of Section 8(a) of the National Drugs Control Act of 2008.
Court documents state that the women were found with the substance on March 22, 2025, in the capital without any lawful authority.
State prosecutor Aruna Jalloh told the court that police arrested the pair, conducted investigations, and charged them after a preliminary inquiry.
During mitigation, Mariama Thomas asked for leniency, saying she had acted “out of goodwill.” Fatmata Kamara blamed poverty and said she has five children to support. Their lawyer, M.Y. Conteh, highlighted that the women had saved the court’s time by pleading guilty, had no previous convictions, and had already spent months in pre-trial detention. He urged the judge to consider rehabilitation over harsh punishment.
The prosecution pushed for the maximum 10-year sentence, describing kush as a dangerous drug that is ravaging Sierra Leone’s youth and wider society.
In his ruling, Justice Ngegba noted the defendants’ cooperation but said he was bound to uphold the law. He imposed five years’ imprisonment on each woman, with the terms to run concurrently.
Kush, a cheap synthetic cannabinoid often laced with unknown chemicals, has become a major public health crisis in Sierra Leone in recent years, contributing to thousands of addictions and hundreds of deaths.
