TOLERANCE TO THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL

This paper reivews the literature concerning the phenomenon of tolerance to alcohol. The experimental evidence of reporting effects of alcohol tolerance on the signs of drunkenness as well as on the performance of psychomotor tasks is described. The review is divided into 2 parts. Part 1 examines the extent and effect of tolerance at what might be termed 'social' levels of alcohol use. Part 2 examines the small, but unquantified proportion of the population who exhibit a very high degree of alcohol tolerance. This review is therefore complimentary to the paper by Biecheler-Fretel and Choquet (1991) which appeared in the journal.