Moderation Management

When you have made the healthy decision to drink less, and you stay within moderate limits, you should not experience any health, personal, family, social, job-related, financial, or legal problems due to alcohol. The suggested guidelines below allow for a degree of individual interpretation, because moderation is a flexible principle and is not the same for everyone. The suggested limits, however, are more definite.

A Moderate Drinker:

• considers an occasional drink to be a small, though enjoyable, part of life.
• has hobbies, interests, and other ways to relax and enjoy life that do not involve alcohol.
• usually has friends who are moderate drinkers or nondrinkers.
• generally has something to eat before, during, or soon after drinking.
• usually does not drink for longer than an hour or two on any particular occasion.
• usually does not drink faster than one drink per half-hour.
• usually does not exceed the .055% BAC moderate drinking limit. (see Note 1 below)
• feels comfortable with his or her use of alcohol (never drinks secretly and does not spend a lot of time thinking about drinking or planning to drink).

The MM Limits:

• Strictly obey local laws regarding drinking and driving.
• Do not drink in situations that would endanger yourself or others.
• Do not drink every day. MM suggests that you abstain from drinking alcohol at least 3 or 4 days per week.
• Women who drink more than 3 drinks on any day, and more than 9 drinks per week, may be drinking at harmful levels.
(See Note 2 below for definition of a "standard" drink)

• Men who drink more than 4 drinks on any day, and more than 14 drinks per week, may be drinking at harmful levels.

  Notes:

  Standard drink: one 12 oz-beer (5% alcohol), one 5-oz glass wine (12% alcohol), or 1 and 1/2 oz of 80-proof liquor (40% alcohol).

These "number of drinks" limits are LIMITS and not TARGETS. Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) charts are more accurate than number of drink limits because they take into account weight, sex, and rate of drinking. If you are very light in weight use the BAC upper limit of .O55%. Some researchers advise a limit of one drink per day for older adults (55+).

The limits used by MM are based on research published in 1995 in the American Journal of Public Health, by Dr. Martha Sanchez-Craig, Addiction Research Foundation, Toronto, Canada and other published limits.

PLEASE CHECK WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS WHETHER OR NOT THIS PROGRAM IS SUITABLE FOR YOUR INDIVIDUAL SITUATION. Consider consulting a trained Drug and Alcohol Treatment Program/Counsellor or AA.