Sometimes complete avoidance of certain normally engaged things is necessary, by a person, sometimes by a lot of persons together. Nevertheless, such extremism, it ain't without it's cost -- physical, social, spiritual. In an attempt to shore up one failing by abstaining from it, our bodies, minds and lives are set such that other weaknesses, other brittleness, other fragilenesses are excaberated.
Without a bit of drink now and again, people can lose that zest for life and be overwhlemed by it's bitterness. Without the elixer of forgetting they can be swept up in great grudges, pinned down by a chip on their shoulder never washed off by that wonderful elixer.
Gambling has broken many a man or woman, but a card game or a social bet now and then has helped keep people together and appreciative of one another. It can't be scorned completely.