you don't do her any favors by protecting her from the consequences of her drinking.
...this is where I am reaching now. Reluctantly admitting - but it is indeed true. :-(
have you spoken to her about perhaps attending AA? or giving it a try at least?
...she's been going to AA for 4 years. She has recently stopped going. Said it wasn't helping her. Gives the excuse that she hasn't spoken to her sponsor for two weeks now because the sponsor 'waits to be contacted' - well, that in itself speaks volumes because all it means is that she is not yet ready to contact her again, ie seek help.
Unfortunately I am struggling with this mainly because I knew this friend first of all when she was not drinking. So I have the issue of a kind of bereavement here...the loss of the person I knew.
But I need to take that next step and completely step back and out now, because at the moment this is getting to be one step forwards and several steps back, for her.
Grieving, ironically, is an issue I hadn't expected to be tied in with all this when I first found myself involved in it :-(