OUTLAW, dude! Please take what I'm posting here in the spirit of the friendship we share (and forgive me if I misinterpret):
You can't force sobriety down the throat of an alcoholic, anymore than you can force an alcoholic to stop dumping whiskey down their throat. It can only be their choice, to seek the one or to do the other.
In fact, the odds are long against success: Less than one in ten alcoholics ever even seek sobriety, and of those that do, about three in ten maintain it (as of the last info I have heard).
On a general note: The ((((hugs)))) thing can definitely be, and all too often is, an 'enabling' aspect of how we deal with alcoholics. fwiw, I haven't seen any of the posts on this thread in that particular way. And one of the primary tenets of AA is not "Attendance here is precedent upon that you haven't had a drink today, or this week, or this month," but instead "All are welcome who have a desire to stop drinking." In that respect, the ((((hugs)))) one gets at an AA meeting are supportive, and a necessary aspect of capturing a sense of connectedness with the rest of humanity, which is typically so lacking in an alcoholic...and which is one reason that suicidal thoughts are not unusual.