A Weakness For Addiction

“Why is the business in Faridabad so down this week?”, the tall well-built man asked with a frown etching across his face.

“Sirji, last week four college students died of overdose, after that the police has been on lookout, cracking down on all our distributers.”

The man huffed. Stupid kids.

“Did you bribe the police?”

“Yes, but now the local politician has taken this as an opportunity and has decided to reassure everyone that he will do everything in his power to stop all the drug producers and distributers. He swore that the drug menace will be uprooted from its roots.”

“Don’t we pay him a cut?”

“Yes, Sirji, he said, let us wait for one to two months, and then we can start again. People will forget. Out of sight, out of mind.”

Bloody crooked politicians all of them.

“Fine” he waved a dismissing hand and the burly guy left the plush office of the CEO of Nirvana Chemicals.

“Stupid kids,” he muttered under his breath, “spoiling my business”

What am I supposed to do, if they don’t have even a drop of self-control in their veins, he thought to himself. It wasn’t his fault that they died. It was their fault anyway. The drugs he sold were addictive. Supremely addictive. It would trigger the dopamine in your brain like a ton of rocks and make you crave it. But it was their fault anyway because they didn’t have enough self-control to stop after five snorts.

Weak-willed pussies.

They died because they overdosed, should have restrained themselves. Weak. And the activists were going on and on about how the drug peddlers should be punished so that it would save innocent kids from ruining their lives.

Innocent, my foot.

Now, there were alcohol and cigarettes too! Alcohol and cigarettes killed more people than a drug overdose. Even if the world was going to end, people would still queue up to buy alcohol as they would claim, “Without it they would die even before the world ended”. 700 Crore. That was the revenue which alcohol generated per day for the government. Hence, the politicians weren’t in a rush to ban them.  And what about porn? People were addicted to porn. The population of earth is roughly 7 billion and there were 42 billion visits to Pornhub alone in a year and every minute there were 80,032 visits to that site. Well, now that is a legit massive problem. But no, no one is banning that.

“All of them have to come after my business!” he huffed.

The world was filled with weak-willed people, but it was a gift for him. One week, that is how long the college students will last, before they come begging to his distributors for the powder, ready to pay the named price.

He allowed himself a small smirk.

Weak.

Another smirk. Good for me.

Running his hands through his hair, his mind randomly reminded him of the 80/20 rule. 80% control 20%. Only 20% were successful, only 20% because only the 20% of the world’s population was disciplined enough. The rest 80%? - Not so much. That is why only 20% of the population was successful.

The world thrived on addiction. Addiction to money. Addiction to sex. Addiction to pleasure. Addiction to pain. Addiction to food. Addiction to luxury. Addiction to love. Addiction to games. Every industry thrived on addiction. The economy thrived on addiction. The food industry thrived on your addiction to burgers. The beauty and clothing industry thrived on your addiction to look beautiful. They thrived on the addiction of approval. Approval from others. Not from yourself, but from others. Media industry thrived on the addiction for fun and entertainment. The self-help industry thrived on people’s addiction to be above average.

Weak. That is what people were. Weak-willed. Mediocre. Real effort took discipline. Pain. Blood, sweat and tears. Sacrifice. And most important self-control and self-restraint. The trait of doing what is needed.

His train of thoughts was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

“Sirji…”

“Yes and make it quick. I have to go home.”

“Some distributors of ours are saying some students approached them for the cocaine, should we sell them or wait? Because if we get caught then, the social activists would start demanding jail term. I think we should lie low and let it die down.”

Weak.

He let out a laugh.  Even death doesn’t deter these stupid kids. Stupid and weak, a bane for them, but a boon for me. At this rate, he would be able to afford his Audi sooner than he thought.