30/08/2025
South Sudan’s Youth in Peril: When Addiction Meets Neglected Mental Health.
By Monyjok Monylang Dau
Across South Sudan, drug abuse is spreading rapidly among young people from Cities, towns and camps (PoC) to rural villages. Local drugs like Banga/, miraa, alcohol and other substances are not simply recreational; for many, they are a painful attempt to escape the trauma of war, displacement, violence, and extreme poverty. But this escape comes with a deadly price. Drug abuse is a primary driver of a worsening mental health crisis, causing anxiety, depression, psychosis, and other severe disorders among South Sudan’s youth. Prolonged use of cannabis is linked to psychosis and paranoia, while alcohol abuse worsens depression and fuels domestic violence. The misuse of pharmaceutical drugs like Tramadol, Codeine, and sedatives creates dependence, triggers withdrawal symptoms, and exacerbates mental health conditions such as anxiety and psychosis symptoms.
Despite the clear connection between drug abuse and mental illness, South Sudan’s public health system has almost entirely neglected this crisis. The country has only three to four psychiatrists nationwide. Treatment options for young people with substance use disorders are virtually nonexistent, with an estimated 99% treatment gap in mental health care. Even where care is theoretically available from I/NGOs, stigma drives many away. Those caught abusing drugs are often criminalized rather than treated as victims of trauma. Many are locked away or ignored instead of receiving the support they need.
Healthcare workers and community leaders shared and warned that substance abuse is the hidden engine behind South Sudan’s escalating mental health problems in youths. The brain altering effects of drugs create chemical imbalances that trigger anxiety disorders, mood swings, psychosis and memory loss. In some urban and rural areas, as many as one in four young men report regular illegal drug use, revealing a widespread pattern. These drugs are alarmingly easy to find. Cheap local alcohol is sold in small sachets affordable to many, while banga and pharmaceutical drugs are smuggled and sold illegally.
South Sudan has not been completely silent on the issue of drug use and addiction. Regulation began as early as 2009, when the Penal Code Act (Article 383) came into effect, criminalizing drug trafficking, cultivation and possession of “dangerous drugs.” In 2012, the Drug and Food Control Authority Act established the South Sudan Drug and Food Control Authority to regulate the importation, distribution and sale of pharmaceuticals. Most recently, in September 2022, the Ministry of Health with support from the WHO, launched the Pharmaceutical Policy and Strategy, a five year framework aimed at ensuring safe, affordable, and regulated access to medicines across the country.
Yet, despite these legal milestones, implementation has been weak and enforcement has focused more on punishment than treatment. Laws criminalize addiction, but mental health services especially for young people remain nearly absent. This gap between regulation and care leaves thousands trapped in cycles of addiction and untreated mental illness.
South Sudan’s fragile health infrastructure is unprepared to respond. With scarce specialists and almost no mental health services in most hospitals, Primary Health Care Centres and Primary Health Care Units, the link between drug abuse and mental illness is largely ignored in health policy and practice. As a result, young people suffering from addiction and mental disorders face an almost impossible path to recovery. The lack of services, combined with stigma and social exclusion, traps many in cycles of addiction and untreated mental illness. Communities bear the burden with rising crime, school dropouts, lost productivity and broken families, yet national efforts to address this intersection are minimal or nonexistent.
To break this cycle, South Sudan must urgently recognize drug abuse as a key cause of mental illness by integrating substance use and mental health treatment into primary healthcare for early identification and intervention. Strong regulations already exist but must shift from punitive approaches to supportive, treatment-focused ones. Expanding access to care by training healthcare workers nationwide and increasing the availability of mental health services beyond urban centers is essential. Strengthening enforcement to crack down on illegal drug sales, especially near schools and vulnerable communities, will help reduce access to harmful substances. Additionally, combating stigma through public education is critical to encourage people to seek help rather than hide their struggles. Providing youth with alternatives such as vocational training, sports, arts, and peer support can offer hope and purpose beyond drug use. Furthermore, developing community rehabilitation centers that offer counseling, detoxification and long-term recovery support, while including families in the process, will make treatment more accessible and effective.
Drug abuse is not simply a social or criminal problem in South Sudan, it is the root cause of growing mental health concerns. Neglecting this deadly intersection weakens families, communities and the very foundations of peace and development. South Sudan’s youth are the country’s greatest asset and future; allowing addiction and untreated mental illness to take hold is a betrayal of that potential and a threat to the nation’s stability.
We must act now before we lose more lives, more dreams and the chance for a healthy, peaceful South Sudan. The health of the nation depends on addressing the deadly link between drugs and mental illness starting today.
The author is a mental health practitioner with field experience and a fourth-year student of Counselling Psychology at Mount Kenya University. He is currently engaged in mental health service delivery and can be contacted via email at [email protected] or WhatsApp at 0981771122.
