Welcome to SR. I have found that oftentimes the story-like one about calling a using buddy- had such a positive slant on it that I would often agree, "maybe that's a good idea." Sometimes all my qualifer wanted was validation from me and when I gave it, I became an involved party of sorts.
After a good deal of negative experiences and allowing myself to be manipulated this way; I decided to remain neutral. I even went as far as to have prepared, well-thought out responses. Here are a few of those: "Oh." "I'm sure you will figure it out." "That's interesting." and my all time favorite: "Do what you think is best."
Now my responses usually didn't foster any changes in anyone but myself, but it was worth it for my peace of mind. By stepping away, whatever occured belonged to only one person and it wasn't going to be me.
This is just one way I learned to detach from the chaos and allow the other person to live their own life and face the consequences of their choices.
You may want to take a peek at sticky threads on the top of the page, there's lots of good info there that should help you.
