Hanging out with the people I used to drink with always led me back to drinking. I had to move on with my life and I was not able to keep "friends" who in the long run turned out to be drinking buddies. Where are they now? Probably still warming the bar stool talking about doing all the fun stuff they want to do but never end up doing because they spent all their money on booze or are too drunk or hungover to actually do anything remotely interesting.
In my first few weeks I found my social outlet in AA meetings.
I had to get sober because I was either going to end up in jail, in a mental hospital, or dead. Not much social life in any of those places.