I think this song is about the devil, coming down and makes shit work. You need death and all the terrible shit to appreciate the good. Cyanide could be the devil. He was an angel, he's path was pathed with good intentions and then fell from the sky to fuck shit up.
University of Cornell 16'

Agree with Mike as to the drugs subject. The line "We found purchase then with no requite - nothing nice" means for me that first dosage usually is given for free just to hook a newcomer.

For me this song, along with many Bad Religion songs, touches a place in my heart that is rarely acknowledged. I will never claim that I have an idea about the meaning of any of their songs, but there is always a meaning to me. Those feelings reaffirm that the language spoken by my heart does not always need my understanding, only my acceptance. If I was a practicing Mormon, this would be gospel confirmed by personal revelation. Cyanide feels to me like giving up. Accepting that hopelessness is the only hope, living life hoping for better, yet being to consumed with hope to really live. Finally we the life had is realized, it is found to be sweeter than all prayers and hopes combined. Realizing how much precious time and energy was wasted when the fruit came unseen with the sun every morning, that is bitter, a life lost without ever even feeling it. Like chewing on cyanide to avoid torture.
Yet to a life lived in ignorance, there is hope. Maybe I could taste cyanide and live to appreciate the breath in front of me. For the thick of head and heart, sweetness can only be cherished after the bitterness known. Makes sense to me.

I like Mike's idea. As much as I'd like to think of this as a love song, I think it's more likely about the struggle to remain sober and in self-control after overcoming addiction.

Could it be about addiction recovery and the struggles of staying sober/circumspect?

I think the below comments are dead on when they say they feel this song is a 'parody of religion in the form of a faux love song', but I sort of like it as a 2D song, and this is how I like to think of the words:

For me, the song is about a fear of rejection, and an insecurity that prevents you from being yourself and accepting the love of an individual into your life. The line: "we found purchase then with no requite - nothing nice" seems to be speaking of a past memory in which he was hurt, and this aforementioned experience prevents him from feeling comfortable.

I think of the chorus as being pretty much a summary of his insecurity. He's descrbing various, self created alibis as hiding places from the loneliness he felt when he opened his heart up before, only to face a bitter rejection. The idea of missing someone is like kissing cyanide, makes me think that perhaps he's acknowledging that losing someone does more damage than perhaps immediately noticable - he feels poisoned, unable to love again.

The idea of 'worshiping our invention' seems to be suggesting a submission to his insecurities and fear of losing someone he loves.

"Well let me bend your ear" is referring to the abundance of excuses and a feeling of worthlessness that besieges him as he struggles with the memory of losing someone important to him, but then he goes on to say: 'but I'm never really there' seems to represent the lack of meaning in his fears.

Anyway, this is just my take on it: when you're going through something personal and complicated though, it's easy to make something what you want it to be!