The Durham player was Wednesday included in England's 16 -man squad for the Ashes tour of Australia despite being dropped for the fourth one-day international against West Indies at The Oval following his arrest in Bristol early on Monday.
England national selector James Whitaker told the BBC that Stokes, who was released without charge but is under investigation, would remain in his position of vice-captain to Test skipper Joe Root.
"Ben Stokes has the world at his feet and is well on the way to becoming a very special -- not to mention very well- rewarded -- cricketer," Hussain wrote in the Daily Mail. "But he cannot keep flirting with the self-destruct button while getting himself into such damaging scrapes.
"It has reached the point where it could damage the career of a potentially great England cricketer. He has to learn to walk away or not put himself into an environment where this can happen."
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"The bottom line is, for all the advice and support he will be receiving right now, it's down to him. He just has far too much going for him to throw it all away."
Stokes has found himself in trouble in the past.
He was arrested and cautioned in 2011 for obstructing police on a night out and sent home from an England Lions tour to Australia in 2013 for flouting a ban on late-night drinking.
Vaughan believes Stokes must learn to be streetwise off the field.
"Ben Stokes can't say he was not warned," he wrote in the Daily Telegraph. "People have said to him, 'There is only one person who can ruin your career and that is you. Nobody else.'
"On the field he is a streetwise cricketer. But he is not streetwise off the pitch and that could be his downfall. I am hoping this is his lesson."
Alec Stewart, another former England captain said "massive responsibility" comes with leadership.
"He just needs to learn and learn fast," he told BBC radio. "He's had a couple of hiccups when he was younger. Now he's just got to make sure we're not talking about this again in six months or even six years.