I don't think Stevie is ever dishonest about the meanings behind her songs, I think that it's just a matter of them being about so many different things (Lindsey: "I often think she's writing about me at first, but then I'm not sure."), that she sometimes chooses to discuss only one side of it.
I'll bet there ARE reference to groupies in "Gold Dust Woman," alongside those cocaine references. But in the '70s she chose to only discuss the groupie aspect.
She even alludes to that herself, in the 'Making of Rumours' documentary... "I stopped doing cocaine 10 years ago, so I can talk about this now."
She seemed to like "The Dealer" quite a bit, having recorded it for more than one album... so it probably didn't get released simply because she wrote something newer and wanted to include that instead, or because she and/or her producers felt that another song added the texture they were looking for, better than "The Dealer" could.
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"Although the arrogance of fame lingers like a thick cloud around the famous, the sun always seems to shine for Stevie." -- Richard Dashut, 2014
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