fun fact; drugs that act on your GABA nervous system (benzodiazepines such as xanax, also barbiturates and alcohol) are the only drugs that will kill you outright on withdrawal.

Stimulant withdrawal (amphetamines, cocaine, caffeine, nicotine) causes headache, confusion, fatigue, and occasionally suicidal ideation. Opiate withdrawal (oxycodone, heroin, fentanyl), causes anxiety and flu-like symptoms that can be fatal if severe enough (dehydration, GI complications) but, only in the same way that a flu can, and do not kill you outright. (THC / marijuana withdrawal is the chillest, usually only causing mild irritability and appetite loss, which the others do to a much greater extent).

Benzo (and other GABA active withdrawals) causes a rebound of your nervous system's stress and fight or flight system that cascades from:

1. extreme anxiety and most of the same flu-like symptoms as opiates then into
2. vivid hallucinations (often of being covered in insects including tactile sensation) and paranoid delusions, then finally into
3. back-to-back seizures that eventually result in nervous system failure, hypoxia, and death.

The old-school word for this is "the delirium tremens" or "DTs."

If you are using these substances at a high enough and especially an unsustainable dose (which can cause respiratory depression / hypoxia and weakness of gait / traumatic head injury, similarly to an opiate overdose) you will need to be withdrawn in a either a specialized rehab with medical capabilities or if the addiction is severe enough a hospital or even specifically an intensive care unit. It's possible that if you're a binge drinker (drink large quantities but don't drink at all some days) you may not need special withdrawal precautions. That said, addicts often minimize the extent of their addiction early in the recovery process so a lot of facilities that are unequipped to manage this type of withdrawal will refuse those patients outright until they've been medically evaluated. I've actually had a few patients were the ED was like "oh yeah he's a lil jittery but not actively withdrawing" and a few hours into being on the unit they can barely bring a cup of water to their mouth without spilling it.

Obviously the history of legislative bans on alcohol is a great example of why criminalizing substance use is pretty much always a losing battle but it's also WILD that alcohol is legal when specifically compared to marijuana being illegal.

This has been a PSA.