Huh?
Put a guy on a desert island. Food shelter and clothing. No alcohol and no means of making any. No way to get high. Is he still an alcoholic? No. Chances are he won’t drive dunk, get arrested, beat up someone cause they “looked at him wrong” or do all kinds of shit he don’t remember. Those or any of the other genius moves drunks make. Alcoholism is an industry, not a disease.
Don’t want to be an alcoholic? Don’t drink.
Don’t want to have MS anymore? Tough shit.
That there is the difference. Will he live longer? Probably not. But it will seem like it.
Bwahahahahahaha.
Getting drunk and doing stupid stuff and being an alcoholic are 2 entirely different things. It’s hard to imagine such abject ignorance in 2015.
And the answer to your question is yes, the person is still an alcoholic. A sober one, but an alcoholic nonetheless.