Originally Posted by
sevenofnine 
My own personal opinion on this is that it depends a lot on the person. While I can easily agree that it is a mind altering substance and possibly a crutch for someone who needs to avoid facing things, I'm not sure its always incompatible with sobriety from drugs. I have heard that for some people its fine as they don't have trouble controlling the alcohol in the same way. However, if things are still shaky, I would think it might be a trigger or at least a first step on a slippery slope. Depends on the person, I think. I don't have a problem with my RAH having a drink in the evening- we rarely ever have more than a couple each. But at the beginning of the journey I did ask him to abstain. Although that was partially so he could show me how serious he was about sobriety too- I needed some concrete evidence evidence at that point.
My husband has been clean for 6 years. He is able to drink alcohol without incident, but he does not use it as a crutch for his emotions, nor does he over-drink. He drinks resposnibly with dinner, or at a celebration etc.
Personally I wouldnt encourage it in early recovery because of the emotional ties that could be established.