Hunger hyper-focuses us on one object. It is non-discriminating and possessive. It can focus on a shot of whiskey or a person or God. All are hungers for a sensation that arises and resolves in the body.
We can learn hyper-focus through both addiction and by concentrating our attention through meditative practices.
There is nothing about addiction that makes it a less exalted access point to accessing hyper-focus—what elsewhere we have called genius. We can give ourselves over equally to worldly success, bad health, stress-relief, the loss of our most cherished relationships.
The outcome does not really matter, nor do the conditions. The question is whether we are able to fully offer ourselves.