How many years was Ray Charles addicted to heroin?

In the mid-1960s, he was arrested for drug possession, which prompted his successful fight against a seventeen year heroin addiction.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/charles_r.html

While Charles was an unquestioned musical success, he was also a long-term drug user. On November 14, 1961, Charles was arrested on a narcotics charge in an Indiana hotel room, where he waited to perform. The detectives seized heroin, marijuana, and other items. Charles, then 31 years old, stated that he had been a drug addict since the age of 16. While the case was dismissed because of the manner in which the evidence was obtained, Charles's situation did not improve until a few years later. Individuals who cared for Charles, such as Quincy Jones and Reverend Henry Griffin, felt that those around Charles were responsible for his drug use, as he was unable to obtain or administer drugs to himself, given his blindness. By 1964 Charles's drug addiction caught up with him and he was arrested for possession of marijuana and heroin. Following a self-imposed stay at St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood, California, where he kicked his drug habit in 96 hours, Charles received five years probation. Charles responded to the saga of his drug abuse and reform with the songs "I Don't Need No Doctor," "Let's Go Get Stoned," and the release of his first album since kicking his heroin habit in 1966, the impassioned Crying Time.

http://biography.jrank.org/pages/2393/Charles-Ray.html

There seems to be uncertainty whether the answer is 16 or 17 years, but sources seem to agree that the answer is around here.

"He experimented first with marijuana, and later became addicted to heroin, which he struggled with for sixteen years."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Charles