Day 5: The Cost of a Fix

Wish 5: End Drug Abuse

How much does it cost to have one drug addict sustain the habit for one day? Vancouver Police believe it is about $500 a day.

That is a lot of money. Does an addict have the ability to earn $150,000 per year? No. That's why it costs more if you understand just how addicts are getting that money.

Last year, I parked my car in a darker part of a street, close to a restaurant our family frequents. I left my Tomtom GPS device in plain view. Big mistake.

When we got back to the car, the passenger side front window was smashed in. Only the GPS and its power cord were missing. Yes, I was really angry and disappointed.

The next day, I left the car at a shop to have the window repaired. My insurance covers all the repairs less a $300 deductible, which I pay. Insurance did not cover the lost contents because they were not integrated in the car.

A door mechanism was destroyed by the force of the blow. That addict must have used a baseball bat. Total repairs cost over $1,050.

So let's do the math:

I lost $300 as my repair deductible, and about $120 for a replacement GPS device.

The insurance company, which is provincially run, lost $750. Actually, all the insurance payees lost that money as part of their insurance premiums.

Total amount paid by me and the insurance company: $1,170.

What did the addict get? He or she "fenced" the GPS for a measley $10-15. Stolen goods are only worth 5-10% of their original costs.

Let's extrapolate these numbers.

The addict needs to steal and fence 20-30 GPS devices a day to maintain his/her addiction. If it costs about $1000 to society to fix the problems created by each robbery, it costs a total of $30,000 a day to keep that addict stoned and happy.

In a year, one addict can cost society up to $10 Million!

If there are 500 addicts in a city, it would cost that city $5 Billion a year!

Economically speaking, addicts cost society a lot. For every dollar a drug pusher gets, society pays $100!

How much does a fix cost? Too much.

My wish today is to end drug abuse once and for all.