Tramadol: the painkiller trapping South Sudan’s teenagers
By William Madouk
A former user, a researcher and a government official say easy access, stretched families and missing policies are leaving young people exposed to a dangerous opioid.
Tramadol was made to ease pain. But across South Sudan, the prescription opioid is trapping many young people in addiction.
John, a former user whose real name is being withheld, said he could buy the drug freely. “Actually, I do buy without questions,” he said. “I thought it would help me with issues I’m facing. But it was stealing much of my life.”
Doctors say long-term tramadol abuse can damage both the brain and the body. Yet the drug remains easy to get. In June 2025, the Pharmaceutical Society of South Sudan named tramadol and codeine cough syrups as the medicines most often misused, with growing misuse among young people in Juba. In July 2026, the society welcomed the seizure of six million illicit tramadol doses at the Nimule border, warning that abuse is rising “particularly among young people”.
“They mainly target teens”
Barjok Maduok, a researcher on social development, said drug sellers deliberately go after the young. “The drug sellers target teenagers from 14 to 19, 20. It doesn’t even reach my twenties.”
“The drugs are not only dangerous, but they can even diminish the generation,” he said. “These are the lifelines of society. If the society is not growing, and if the young die after ten years, then it is a danger indication.”
The problem reaches beyond the capital. In Northern Bahr el Ghazal, activists told Radio Tamazuj in 2025 that tramadol misuse was driving young people to crime, and that some pharmacies sell it without a prescription, even though the law allows only licensed professionals to dispense restricted medicines.
“Nobody questions why”
The crisis is affecting schools and communities. Maduok said many families, worn down by economic hardship and political instability, no longer have time to talk to their children. “They run after life from morning to evening,” he said. “A teenager may come home at 9 p.m. and nobody questions why.”
He called for family-based programmes. “A family has to have a program of controlling their kids, a program of mentoring their kids, a program of setting role models,” he said.
A strategy for child protection
Adeng Andrew, an undersecretary at the Ministry of Gender, said the government is “trying as much as possible to keep children out of the street” and away from substance abuse. The ministry, she said, is developing a national strategy for child protection.
In August 2025, a ministry child protection official said the number of children living on the streets was visibly increasing in Juba and other states, and that a national action plan was being drawn up with the regional bloc IGAD.
“Without those laws, without policies, we will not be able to address anything and hold anybody accountable, including the parents,” Andrew said. “So it is very important to have those strategies and policies.”
This story was produced by William Madouk for the Digitalise Youth Mobile Journalism Fellowship.
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