A friend of mine considered joining his local AA group and I advised against it. The reason being he is easily led and it was inevitable that weaker members of

A friend of mine considered joining his local AA group and I advised against it. The reason being he is easily led and it was inevitable that weaker members of the group (those who had no chance of quitting) would attach to him and undermine his efforts. At his first meeting he made a friend who suggested they share a few cans afterwards. He didn't go back to AA but joined another community style self-help group and exactly the same thing happened. Anecdotally, I have heard similar stories from people attending stop-smoking groups and even weight watchers.