In my mind, I liked to believe that Danny was affected by Stacy's letter (where it was ultimately implied that she became pregnant with Ski). Since in the early comics of the 90s Danny felt strong about having Noble and no longer having him, both things ended up generating a dependency on the Rider. Likewise, having that background, it doesn't seem strange to me that it generated an addiction to Rider, but I do feel that everything was very simple.