Curmudgeon, Electrical Engineer, Guitar God Wannabe
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Where the mighty arms of Atlas hold the heavens from the Earth
Posts: 3,403
This is a hard one.
I believe there are two types of addicts. The first type is inherently self absorbed and selfish without the chemical enhancement of those traits. The second type is inherently decent who, for one reason or another, found themselves in a destructive spiral.
When you take the drugs away from addicts, what's left is their true nature. If someone's a jerk before they started taking drugs, they'll be jerks after they quit using. My AXGF would fall along that spectrum. But as an example of the second type, my niece got in way over her head with alcohol a few years back. She was a sweet kid, and in recovery, is a sweet kid.
So it's really a case by case basis.