Recovered drug addicts only lied to support their addiction.

Many addiction specialists believe that addiction and lying go hand in hand. However, they think the lying is part of the addict’s addiction, whether it be so that person can get more drugs or hide their addiction. However, this need to lie goes away once an addict gets sober ^[1]. Unless you encounter an inherently dishonest person, it’s safe to assume that an addict’s propensity for lying is confined to the period they spend in active addiction. It’s common knowledge that people in addiction can behave like Jekyll & Hyde. Who people are in addiction is not who they actually are – the disease changes them for the worse ^[2]. Addicts lie, cheat, and steal to support their addiction because they are slaves to it. Once that addiction is gone, they return to whoever they were before addiction – often an honest and decent person. Furthermore, many addicts get sober using a 12-step program like Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous. These programs focus on “rigorous honesty” which means addicts who recover through these programs are most certainly trustworthy people again. This argument assumes that the addict in question’s true self does not include pathological lying, which is an issue separate from addiction that doesn’t affect all addicts. This argument also assumes that recovered addicts have a twofold recovery – one that involves sobriety and one that involves getting back to their true selves. Addicts in early recovery are still shedding their propensity to lie, but that eventually goes away. One can most certainly trust a recovered addict, but it’s less risky to trust one who has been sober a while.