It's true. Every day I want to get drunk. Somewhere after the third 9% beer I finally feel like "me". Or like the best version of myself. But it's false, just like the false confidence it brings.

I still drink once or twice a week. But every day that I don't is a struggle whether I was drunk the day before or if I haven't had a drink in a month.

My friend came over last night and we got drunk. At one point I said something and put my finger in his face. He misheard what I said and told me if I don't move my finger he's going to break it. I dared him to try. We ended up crashing over the table into the floor where he used his BJJ training to headlock me unconscious. This may sound terrible but we've always fought for fun over the years. What I regret is that my wife saw me go limp and it scared her.

What was the point of that? Today I feel like dogshit and my throat is so bad it hurts to talk. When we finally got around to playing the game we had planned on, my friend was so drunk he couldn't play.

Yet I want that every day. I almost went out for beer before the snow got too bad but I stopped myself. That's the best we addicts can hope for. To get to the point where we can stop ourselves.

Sorry a lot of talk about me, but OP you are 100% correct that your friend will never change until they want it for themselves. There is very little you can do to force that. If your friend is using opiates then please get some narcan for them and for yourself. Just be there for support because they're going to need you once they make that decision. You can also try to make sure they have food to eat, easy stuff, because sometimes addicts neglect that and it just makes everything worse.