Need some advice on helping a friend with a substance abuse problem.

[GumboYaYa]

Last edited Thu Feb 22, 2024, 01:11 PM - Edit history (1)

I posted this in GD and someone suggested I repost it here. Thanks in advance for your help.

We have a long-term friend who has had a drinking problem for many years. For the past several years he has been working in a job where his boss is his best drinking buddy and it has apparently escalated into other drugs being abused in addition to alcohol. Our friend has become convinced that his current environment is toxic so he came to us and asked for a job. We agreed to hire him, he is like family to us.

This week we schedule a meeting to discuss his role in our business and his ideas for how he can contribute to its success. He shows up to the meeting completely trashed, unable to have a civil conversation and arguing with us about everything we discuss. It was completely unproductive.

We have rescheduled the meeting for tomorrow and asked him to be sober for the meeting. But we are not sure what to do at this meeting.

For us the right answer is for him to go to rehab and we would support him in that effort by paying him a salary even before he starts with us if he spends the time in rehab. But we are not sure how to have this conversation without making him angry.

We are not sure whether we should hire him if he declines to go to rehab. Is it better to get him out of the current situation or are we enabling the disease if we employ him without requiring a change? Generally we want to do the right, most effective thing to help and we are absolutely confused as to what that is. If anyone has experience here, please help!!!!