I think that the only thing definitons do is give us a picture of what a persons drinking is like at a particular point in time. Just because you can tone it down or stop for periods of time does not mean it won't resurface. I don't think remission from active alcoholism is all that unusual as I have seen many hard core alcoholics who have had periods of sobriety along the way.
Changing our way of thinking about mind and mood altering substances is where the rubber meets the road. I had to accept the simple truth that the short term release and relief these things were providing was in no way worth the long term misery they were causing. The only difference I see is that it takes some of us much longer than others to figure that out.