Supressing the effect of a drug?

[SpaceSquirrel]

Hello,

I hope this is the correct sub forum to ask this: How come that some people seem to have a much better ability to suppress the effect of a given drug than others? I know someone who seems to be able to "turn sober" by sheer willpower, no matter what substance at which dose he has taken (that includes alcohol, LSD or higher doses of GHB for instance). This is not a heavy user with high tolerance or a long history of use. It baffles me everytime he does that. We party together frequently, and whenever we need someone to interact with the rest of the world he just snaps out of his high, appears pretty much unaffected and then is able to return to where he left off. He's pretty good at suppressing other feelings, too by the way, maybe that's the same skill. Is there a neuroscientific explanation for that?

 

[Trying2Iso]

Some people are better at acting sober than others, because the substance doesn't hit them as hard. Also tolerance can be a factor.
A drug's half-life is how long it takes for half of a drug to leave the body, you can't force a drug out instantly really, but i don't think that's what you're saying anyway.
Sekio can probably explain it better, i believe he is the mod here. or maybe that's herbavore. actually i think it is sekio.

 

[sekio]

He's probably still fucked up, he's just good at forcing himself into a coordinated mind state. Sort of like forcing yourself to wake up in the morning, if that makes any sense.

I bet you money if you measured his e.g. reaction time or blood pressure it would still be changed from a sober baseline, even if mentally he can "fake it til he makes it". At least with alcohol, many people can claim to sober up, but upon close inspection they are still intoxicated/relaxed. The same probably holds true for other drugs.

Ask him to count off three minutes mentally the next time he's on a strong hallucinogen, see how accurate he is

 

[endotropic]

I think fear/addrenaline can have a lot to do with this. A lot of people can "snap out of it" in a sufficiently stressful situation, once the adrenaline wears off the high comes back.

Kind of like the body's natural way of bringing back Mia Wallace.