Things that can happen only in small village societies to control chemical abuse and addictions

This is a true story. I know one mentally ill person, my one childhood friend, who is two years older than I am. He had developed an alcohol habit which is quite common in my society. His mother had noticed it and had gone to all grocery stores of this little village and told them not to sell any alcohol to this man, her son. And every time he tried to buy, f.ex., beer they told at these stores that they do not sell any alcohol to him. However, he was not so stupid when he wanted to satisfy his habit and so he gave money to other people to buy beer for him, which worked for him. Of course, he was not under any formal control program, but in this type of the little village environment he was controlled informally. I have not seen him in many years now, but I know that he still gets drunk regularly which he has done for decades.