Drug addicts are known to be pathological liars. They will say anything to get more drugs or get out of trouble. However, people who experience addiction are often radically different people once they’re sober. So can you trust a former addict? Do you discount their past and let them start fresh, or do you make them earn back your trust? At what point can you actually trust the former drug addict? These questions are important because of the sheer number of addicts we have in America today.
Yes, you can trust a recovered drug addict
Addicts should not be defined by their past addiction. Once a person’s addiction is in the past, people need to treat the recovered addict with the same level of trust and respect they’d give anyone else.
Recovered drug addicts only lied to support their addiction.
Recovered addicts no longer need to lie for the sake of their addiction and can be trusted like anyone else.
Drug addicts will say anything to get more drugs. Even when those drugs go away, the behaviors they exhibited in addiction remain – like lying.
Recovered drug addicts are always at risk of relapsing
Even after a drug addict has recovered, the capacity for addiction does not leave them. No matter how long someone has been recovered from their addiction, the possibility of relapse exists.
Sometimes you can trust a recovered drug addict, it depends.
Lumping all recovered drug addicts together leads to faulty generalizations. Some of them can be trusted and some can’t. It’s not fair to write them all off as liars, and so it’s up to individuals to judge the trustworthiness of each, individual recovered addict they encounter.
Some people don't relapse once they've recovered, so they can be trusted
There are some people that don’t relapse after they have recovered because they have gained control of their addiction. Having control over their addiction makes them trustworthy, as they are not being controlled by it anymore.
Trust can actually be part of the recovery process
Drug addicts are people, and all people are different. In order for an addict to have the best chance at recovery, it is often essential that their friends and family members trust them.
