I'm undecided on what to think with this situation. I prefer truth, but there's only points of views here probably. There are accumulating reasons and sudden reasons and context, and fanbase have speculated for over a decade.

Am I glad to hear Jon explicitly mentioning more substance abuse? Not really. Then again, Richie overall was rather cool in handling his rockstar persona in general public (I think), but without a band and serious music output in several years, his position looks worse and worse. So the argument for "complete truth" and mentioning substances etc. grows weaker as years go by.