Substance use disorder-Vital hurdle in sustainable development of Nigeria

On the global front, Millenium Developmental Goals (MDGs) were recently replaced with Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) keeping in view the importance of inclusive growth. Thus, the SDGs have been designed so that people belonging to all economic strata can get benefitted by them. Differences in economic status can have severe consequences, including increased levels of drug addiction and related crimes. It creates a huge burden on the healthcare system on local level and on the society at large. This problem is very prominent in many sub-African countries, including Nigeria. This study made an attempt towards identifying and analyzing various factors that may be contributing towards economic disparities, its burdens on the society (with reference to substance use disorder, in particular) and the various inclusive growth measures that can contribute towards addressing this problem. All concerned stakeholders including government, semi-private, private organizations, NGOs and global organizations need to work together to handle the deteriorating conditions so that the situation can be brought under control before it gets too late.