As far as I’m aware, the only other drug class aside from alcohol, whose withdrawals can kill you are benzodiazepines.

I was in rehab once with someone who had a terrible Xanax addiction. They had to wean him off, and he still had psychotic episodes where he would hallucinate some very bizarre things accompanied by these terrible panic attacks while they weaned him off, not to mention the seizures he would have.

They eventually stopped, but the first few weeks he was there were an absolute nightmare for him.

This is true. A medical hospital can assist but it will be straight drugs and monitoring. You’ll sit in a room with a TV and whatever books or electronic devices you bring with you. Outpatient support? Maybe. Probably not.

A mental health hospital will monitor you and provide the drugs to keep you out of danger. Little room time. No electronic devices. Group therapy. Exploration of why you’re drinking with some Coping Skills 101 training. Discharge plan to include outpatient support.

That special care seems to be ativan, in my area. It's not replacing the poison, it's calming the neurological side - effects of detox.

if you are a heavy alcoholic.

Only reason I still use Reddit is because of R/stopdrinking... my virtual little AA meeting whenever I want/need it.

I was a daily drinker for 10 years, and the last few were... well if I kept it to a fifth of cheap canadian whisky a day, I was "doing well." 🙄 , I didn't do well most days.

Anyway, I was sittin on the couch one day, thinking about string theory. about how our decisions create little offshoots of different realities, and I thought about the string where I kept drinking, and where it might would lead.

Went into the kitchen, poured out the handle I had in the freezer. I remember looking into the sky... it was so blue.

From then on I only used weed and shrooms. Shrooms for figuring out big stuff, going through traumatic shit from my past. Weed sometimes did that too. Have you heard of EMDR? it's where you just sit and follow a light bouncing from side to side. Well I'd get real high, sit on my Marcy recumbent stationary bike, and play Mariokart on my old Nintendo 64. And shit, I swear that acted as a perfect EMDR machine. I'd be on there dissociating, thinking about shit, making major breakthroughs.

Anyway, this year I finally found the courage to face the trauma from my past, confronting my past abuser, then confronting my parents that ignored it... and you know what? went from smoking weed almost everyday to... not. Like at all. I just don't feel the need anymore. It's crazy. My life isn't perfect, but it's so much better it's nuts.

I dunno. just my own story. Hope you get there someday, brother. I promise it's worth it.