brian – sounds like your friend has mastered being a functional alcoholic and those are the ones least likely to hit bottom, hence least likely to ever seek help. If he is a true alcoholic, there’s more to it than sheer will power. That would be fine for someone like you and I. But true alcoholics have other physical problems that make them more dependant than the average person. It is like a cancer. It is a disease.
As I said, I didn’t delve too much into it, but I vaguely remember reading something about genetics and alcoholism and which races had more of a predisposition b/c of certain issues w/their liver. I forget the details. I want to say enzyme, but now I’m not sure. It was either they missed something or had more of it. But in any case, they were more likely to not process alcohol like a normal person would and made them more susceptible to binge drink.
