total flake, or just hitting the bottle too hard?

My wife had recently made friends with another woman in our area (or so she thought), and was seeing a bit of promise in her new friendship, as the woman and her family had lots in common with ours. They have children close to ours in age, they aren't materialistically obsessed, and they lean a bit to the left of center, but not to the extreme. Unfortunately, the woman has consistently refused to return my wife's calls now. Strange enough, we've even run into her husband several times, and he acts like it is nothing.

There are rumors flying about the neighborhood that this woman is too busy "hitting the bottle" to be social with anyone (at least not anyone with a similar interest in being smashed). It's strange, though. Back in high school and college, there were certain individuals who we enjoyed hanging out with, but who had occasional problems with drug and alcohol abuse. You just forget about it, though, until you run into someone in real life (as opposed to the psuedo-life of college of high school) that has this sort of problem. You expect the "drunks" and "users" to be weird, strung-out individuals in ratty clothing, traipsing across prostitute-infested parts of town, but you don't expect normal everyday people to have this problem.

Unfortunately, drug and alcohol abuse affects every social status and class. Right now, we're not quite sure what to do. Do we just forget about this "friend" and let her do her own thing, or should we persist in trying to befriend her, and perhaps help her. Keep in mind, though, that there's always the chance that the "alcoholic" rumor may be just that - a rumor, and there may be other forces at work. Maybe she really is a flake, or maybe we pissed her off somehow.