the sponsor who won't decide for him
Not my business to say one way or the other. Kid’s gonna do what he decides he needs to do for himself. He’s the one that’s feeling it. He’s the only one can decide.
Context
The whole Crocodilian pedagogy in a refusal: Ferocious Francis, begged by Gately's eyes to step in and forbid the narcotics, declines — because the choice has to be Gately's, the one who's feeling it, the only one who can — and leaves only the suggestion to Ask For Help. It is the opposite of rescue, and it is the point: the program cannot want the sobriety more than the addict does, so the sponsor hands the unbearable decision back and walks out.