Moderation Management (MM) is a peer-support program built around a goal that most recovery groups do not offer: drinking less, rather than not at all. Where Alcoholics Anonymous and most traditional programs are abstinence-only, MM is explicitly for people who want to reduce problem drinking to a moderate, non-harmful level while continuing to drink. It is one of the few structured, organized communities built on that premise. This article is part of our Alcohol Moderation hub, and it covers what MM is, how it works, its genuinely complicated history, and who it suits.
# What Moderation Management is
MM was founded in the United States in 1994 by Audrey Kishline as a program for non-dependent problem drinkers: people whose drinking had become a problem but who had not crossed into severe physical dependence. The core idea is harm reduction. Rather than treating every problem drinker as someone who must abstain forever, MM holds that many people, particularly those caught early and without serious dependence, can learn to drink moderately and safely.
The program is secular, peer-led, and free, run through online groups and forums rather than a large in-person meeting network. In structure it sits closer to SMART Recovery than to AA: self-empowerment rather than powerlessness, tools rather than steps, and no spiritual framing.
The central practices include:
A 30-day abstinence period to start. MM asks new members to begin with 30 days of not drinking at all. This is partly to break the existing pattern, partly to let people see how hard or easy abstinence is, which itself is useful information about whether moderation is realistic for them.
Defined limits. After the initial abstinence period, members set specific limits based on MM’s published guidelines for moderate drinking, and track their drinking against them.
Self-monitoring. Tracking drinks, keeping within set limits, and reviewing the pattern honestly are central to the approach.
Peer support. Online meetings and forums where members share progress, setbacks, and strategies, without the sponsor structure of AA.
# The MM drinking guidelines
What separates MM from a vague “just drink less” is that it publishes specific limits, and members hold themselves to them. The figures most commonly associated with the program are, broadly: for women, no more than around 3 drinks on any day and roughly 9 a week; for men, no more than around 4 on any day and roughly 14 a week. Alongside the weekly ceiling, MM emphasizes several alcohol-free days each week, not drinking every day, and not drinking quickly or to intoxication.
These numbers have been revised over the program’s life and sit in the same territory as several national guidelines, so treat the figures above as the general shape rather than gospel, and check MM’s current official guidance for the exact limits. The principle matters more than the precise number: a defined ceiling, alcohol-free days built in, and honest tracking against both. That principle is the same one in our main moderation guide and our piece on setting a weekly limit.
# The complicated history
Any account of Moderation Management has to include what happened to its founder, because it is often raised and it matters.
In 2000, Audrey Kishline, who had founded MM, caused a head-on collision while driving with a blood alcohol level around three times the legal limit, killing a man and his twelve-year-old daughter. She had, in the months before, stepped away from MM and stated she was pursuing abstinence through AA. She served time in prison, and she died by suicide in 2014.
This is a genuine tragedy, and it is reasonable for people to ask what it says about the program. A few points worth making. Kishline had already left MM and was pursuing abstinence at the time, which complicates any simple “moderation failed” reading. Her own life showed the very thing MM and the wider field agree on: that for some people with severe dependence, moderation is not a safe goal, and the program has always said its approach is for non-dependent problem drinkers, not for everyone. At the same time, the case became, fairly or not, the most cited argument against moderation-based approaches.
MM continued after Kishline’s departure and still operates today as a peer-support organization. The episode is part of why the program, and moderation approaches generally, are more carefully framed now around who they are and are not for.
# How MM compares to AA and SMART
The three are easy to confuse. The short version:
Goal. AA is abstinence-only. MM is moderation-focused (with abstinence as an option members can choose). SMART supports both.
Framing. AA is spiritual, built on the 12 steps and a Higher Power. MM and SMART are both secular and tool-based.
Identity. AA asks members to identify as alcoholics and accept powerlessness. Neither MM nor SMART uses that framing.
Structure. AA has steps and sponsors. MM has its limits, its initial 30-day abstinence period, and self-tracking. SMART has its 4-Point Program.
Who it is for. This is the key one. AA and abstinence approaches are aimed at, and tend to suit, more severe dependence. MM is explicitly aimed at non-dependent problem drinkers caught relatively early. SMART spans both.
If you want the fuller comparison of the secular, tool-based approaches, our SMART Recovery vs AA article covers that ground in detail, and most of it applies to MM too.
# Who Moderation Management suits
MM tends to fit the same people for whom moderation in general is realistic: those whose drinking has become a problem but who are not severely dependent, who can hold a limit once set, and who want a structured, secular community oriented around drinking less rather than quitting.
It tends not to suit people with significant physical dependence, withdrawal symptoms, or a long history of failed moderation attempts. MM itself is clear that its approach is not designed for severe dependence, and the initial 30-day abstinence period is partly a filter: people who cannot manage the 30 days, or who feel markedly worse during it, are getting useful evidence that abstinence-oriented support may fit them better.
The framing matches the one in our main moderation guide and in Can You Drink in Moderation?: severity is the dividing line. MM is a reasonable, evidence-aligned option for the milder, non-dependent end of the spectrum, and the wrong tool for severe dependence.
# Criticisms and limitations
A fair account includes the objections. The most common criticism, sharpened by the Kishline case, is that moderation programs risk keeping people in a drinking pattern that some of them cannot actually control, when abstinence would serve them better. Abstinence-oriented clinicians argue that people are poor judges of their own dependence and may use a moderation framework to rationalize continued heavy drinking.
The fair response is that this is exactly why MM builds in the 30-day abstinence period and frames itself for non-dependent drinkers, and why honest tracking matters so much: the data tells you whether the limits are actually holding. A moderation approach is only as good as the honesty of the self-monitoring underneath it, and the willingness to switch goals if the evidence says moderation is not working.
A second limitation is practical: MM is a relatively small organization with a mostly online presence, so it lacks the dense in-person meeting network of AA. People who want frequent face-to-face support in most towns will find AA, and increasingly SMART, easier to access.
The conclusion is the one this whole hub keeps returning to: moderation programs are a legitimate, evidence-aligned option for the milder, non-dependent end of the spectrum, and a poor fit for severe dependence. MM is one structured way to pursue the first; it is not a substitute for medical care where dependence is real.
# How AlcoLog fits with the MM approach
AlcoLog is not affiliated with Moderation Management, but the two share a core mechanic: self-monitoring against defined limits. MM asks members to set limits and track their drinking honestly against them. That is precisely what AlcoLog is built to do.
For someone following the MM approach, AlcoLog handles the tracking side: one-tap logging, a weekly limit you set yourself, alcohol-free days marked on a calendar, and trend graphs that show whether the pattern is genuinely holding within the limits over time. The 30-day abstinence period that MM starts with is also straightforward to track as a sober streak.
The program provides the community and the framework. AlcoLog provides the numbers underneath it. As with everything in this hub, the app gives you the data and leaves the decisions to you.
