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There's only one answer to this - no matter what addiction it is, yes!
No matter how long an addict has not been using / giving in to his urges, and no matter how successful s/he might have rebuilt their life, an alcoholic will always be an alcoholic, a heroin addict will always feel the itch and a gambler will have to fight every day to stay clear of potentially addictive situations.

Generally, the worst problem with addiction is that, while rehab or counselling may work to address the main issues, there is an underlying danger that the addictive behaviour is always easily transferred to another activity - which might even seem more harmless.
As an example, a heroin addict might be clean for years but in order to cope with the urge to use s/he transfers the addictive behaviour to e.g. computer games, obsessive sport, an eating disorder etc - obviously this does not happen deliberately or consciously and can take years to develop into full-blown addictive behaviour, but it just goes to show that without a very strong mindset, good counselling and rehab (as a prerequisite to get over the first addiction) and constant self-analysis and discipline, an addict will always return to some form of addiction or another - granted, some are less harmful than others (physically and mentally), but addiction is a lifetime issue.

Learn more about this author, Vanessa Fagan.
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