In moderation has eased itself into the lexicon of all polite conversation when your trying to get someone to stop doing a bad thing, but you don’t want to scare them with the prospect of totally stopping yet.

• Drinking… in moderation
• Smoking… in moderation
• Recreational Drugs… in moderation

Or when it comes from people in authority it just means “I’m not ready to have this fight, so I’ll just say in moderation as a catch all so you wont get mad at me”