A COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF COCAINE ADDICTION 
…or why I’d be better off working at McDonalds than being an addicted media star

Sometimes the best way to attack an addiction is where an addict hurts the most: in the pocketbook.

Addiction counseling trainer, Arthur Trundy, uses the example of a high powered advertising executive to make the point about the high cost of addiction.

“When she came to me” he says, “she was 6 months clean from cocaine and thinking of returning to her $110,000 a year job at the advertising agency. But my advice was to consider another career.”

The woman was naturally hesitant about considering any alternatives in light of her former success in advertising. “But it was not a success,” according to Trundy.

He used one of the most recognized business tools, The Cost/Benefit Analysis, to make his point that she would be better off with any other job than her old one.

“Any other job?” She asked.

So he suggested she pick the worst job she could think of as an example. To which she sneered: “Flipping burgers at McDonalds for minimum wage.” 
Let’s look at the facts. Trundy began by noting on a chart that her annual salary was $110,000 as a hard drinking and hard drug abusing executive at the ad agency. At McDonalds, it would be, say, $10 an hour. Assuming a 40-hour work week, this would total $20,800.

“It looks daunting at first” says Trundy, “but watch what happens.”

Since part of her old job meant entertaining clients outside the office, she paid $2,500 per month for a luxury condo in an exclusive neighborhood. That’s $30,000 per year.

“What could you do now if you worked at McDonalds?” Trundy asked. 
She replied: “My mother says I can continue staying at her place rent free so long as I don’t use drugs or drink.” In other words, rent = $0.

The woman‘s wardrobe had been costing her $15,000 per year. Since McDonalds supplies the uniform for the job, that cost is again $0

There’s also the matter of transportation: $18,000 worth of it per year for a luxury car lease. Work at McDonalds, and you can easily afford the $141.50 for a monthly bus pass.

Then add in the cost of drugs, booze and extraordinary items required for the advertising job. She estimated the cost of her own addiction was about $20,000 per year (a VEER-R-R-R-R-Y conservative estimate), but she had to add another $20,000 she paid for entertaining clients, buying drinks and drugs that weren’t reimbursed by the agency. Plus lots of other expenses like setting clients up with hookers. Stuff that isn’t billable (“and at that she was again being conservative,” says Trundy)

Now, lets not forget about taxes. For fun, we’ll use a figure of 30 per cent for both incomes.

That adds up to a net income of:

To compute the Cost/Benefit of one job over the other: Take the net loss of the advertising job where she is paying $26,000 per year to work there. Combine it with the net profit of $12,862 she could make by soberly flipping burgers at McDonalds.

The difference is a whopping $38,862 that she would be further ahead by taking the minimum wage job!

The question is: Are you a drug addict who’d like to make money and be successful? You might want to begin by practicing the phrase: “Would you like fries with your order?”