Another tough one

Much as I expected, the conversation was tough on many levels. I like this person as a friend. I don't like seeing them like this. The person isn't happy, and there's something more going on. I knew it was none of my business, but I care to see them happy. I have no problem with people drinking socially. I have no problem with people getting drunk. The problem becomes when people drink to get drunk every night.

I talked to this person about it, and while they'd say that everything isn't ok, they denied a drinking problem. They denied, despite having facts proving otherwise, their drinking getting in the way of their work. They thought that I was being unfairly critical of them. They thought that I was drawing the attention of higher ups to something that doesn't exist. I told them that this was actually first brought to my attention by higher ups, and that I had been looking the other way for way too long. We agreed to disagree, and we'll see what happens. Reinforcements have been called. I don't want them to throw their life away.