He isn’t close to being done. See, the trick is you have to drink yourself sober. It has to stop working. He’s in the middle of a chemistry experiment. The trick is to reach the inevitable conclusion before overshooting the mark and either dying or hurting a civilian. I’d recommend that his wife lawyer up pronto and go to Al Anon, for her children’s protection and her sanity. As for your friend, offer to buy him a bottle of his favorite. That’s the only way to accelerate his becoming beaten into a state of reasonableness. In the old days, before the proliferation of modern “spin dry” rehabs, the AA old timers would throw him a few bucks and tell him to go get drunk and return when he was actually ready for help. Then they would interrupt their own lives and go to any length to help the still suffering alcoholic recover. We still do. Alcoholism is a self-diagnosed disease, and until you have it, you don’t. And when you realize you do, you have to take responsibility for recovery. That’s harsh, I know. But alcoholism is pure insanity and negotiating with the insane is pointless.