Of course (well, there's some arguments to be made here with regard to prescribed drugs, but let's leave them aside for the minute). The only gripe I was addressing here was the idea that denial = guilt.
That’s not quite how I read it. My guess is that the OP meant something closer to “constant consumption paired with the denial that it could perhaps be unhealthy is a strong predictor of addiction.”
Going by that charitable interpretation, I think his point stands.
I don't think the denial relates to the guilt so much as it relates to the probability the person will be able to ditch this habit when they need to. Given that someone has an addiction problem, they're far more likely to overcome it if they acknowledge it is a problem. If they don't currently acknowledge, then things will probably get worse before they can get better. So perhaps OPs statement should be framed moreso as "realization is the first step to recovery", but I get where they are coming from.
