Cross tolerance means that one drug will alleviate the withdrawal effects of another.

There is also cross tolerance with other stimulants such as amphetamine and cocaine.

Zopiclone has cross tolerance with barbiturates and is able to suppress barbiturate withdrawal signs.

Alcohol has cross tolerance with GABA receptor positive modulators such as the benzodiazepines and the nonbenzodiazepine drugs.

Flurazepam shares cross tolerance with barbiturates and barbiturates can easily be substituted by flurazepam in those who are habituated to barbiturate sedative hypnotics.

There is cross tolerance among psilocin, mescaline, LSD, and other 5-HT, 5-HT, and 5-HT agonists due to down-regulation of these receptors.

Benzodiazepines should only be used short term in alcoholics who aren't already dependent on benzodiazepines as benzodiazepines share cross tolerance with ethanol and there is a risk of replacing the addiction with a benzodiazepine dependence or worse still adding an additional addiction.

There is cross tolerance between alcohol, the benzodiazepines, the barbiturates, the nonbenzodiazepine drugs, and corticosteroids, which all act by enhancing the GABA receptor's function via modulating the chloride ion channel function of the GABA receptor.

In a primate study bretazenil was found to be able to replace the full agonist diazepam in diazepam dependent primates without precipitating withdrawal effects, demonstrating cross tolerance between bretazenil and benzodiazepine agonists, whereas other partial agonists precipitated a withdrawal syndrome.