im sorry your freind is in a screwed position. 20 years of sobriety and getting RSD put me in instant suspicion category, under medicated, tortured. Reduced to such hopelessness I drank. Then I did something really stupid I was honest about it. There are actually pm places who help people with pain conditions who have addiction issues too. Few and far between. The isolation was a natural result of being unable to do things as in the past, family thinking you're just being overdramatic, not being believed etc. suicidal ideation soon follows. Recommend this place so he can educate himself and have some socialization. The drink will have to go. It won't take long before he realizes his pain will increase the more he drinks and he won't like the cost with RSD. I would recommend blocks or infusions instead of opiates. He could use oral ketamine troches for pain without killing himself drinking on it. Low dose naltrexone would block the brain payoff of opiate use. There are options. A freind is the first thing he needs. If you can get him on line and give him a place to safely share and reach out when in dispair that would be a good place to start.