btw telling someone who has issues with alcohol to any degree to try some "controlled drinking" is foolish. I don't know of one person in aa who hasn't tried controlling their drinking BEFORE going to aa. Alcoholism is progressive and fatal...that is just playing with a loaded gun.
Bugs what exactly do you tell someone who is not sure they are an alcoholic to do?
You are correct that it could be the equivelant to handing them a loaded gun, but it could be the very thing they need to hear. As you said, I doubt very seriously if you could find someone in AA who has not tried to control their drinking, suggesting they may want to try some will bring these very memories back to the forefront of thier thought process and allow them to see that their present thinking may be a little out of whack.
The idea behind that statement is not to get anyone to try controlled drinking again, but to realize that they have tried it and failed.