It might end up you're distracted more than anything because it's a new feeling.
Say you never drank alcohol in your life. Somebody gives you a beer. A beer doesn't have that strong an effect, but if you don't know what's coming your mind still might be very busy figuring out what's happening. And while you expect some drop in intellectual ability from alcohol, an experienced occasional user will probably not have as severe a drop from one beer as the person that never tried any.
The occasional user will know the experience after a while, but not have a tolerance. That's who's interesting to study.