Opiate/oid withdrawal is pretty awful. You feel like you will die, but that seldom happens (unless you have other issues).
Withdrawal from alcohol, on the other hand, is, quite frequently, deadly (that's why medical alcohol detox is recommended).
Benzo withdrawals make alcohol withdrawals look like a case of the sniffles.
I think that we are best off, with no addiction to anything, but I also know that many folks can't seem to achieve that.
But deliberately addicting to benzos is crazy. They do use drugs like Librium to medically detox folks from alcohol, but that is quite short term, and is meant to keep you from dying.
That's not been my experience (and I've seen this play out for quite a while). I'm interested to know why this is the case.
Not sure if you are asking a question or not. To clarify, my understanding is that there is a greater risk of death when detoxing from alcohol,although it is possible to die from benzo withdrawal it is not as common. My information comes from registered nurses who worked in Rehabs, and years of interaction with a lot of ex-drunks. I did a very light search last night, but did not find anything that gave good comparisons.
However, I have listened to many, many horror stories (and seen them, acted out, in front of me). In all cases, the benzo withdrawals took forever (like months and years), and included seizures, hallucinations, and neverending insomnia.
Knew someone that came off a 17-year Valium addiction.
Took them a year and a half to stop hallucinating, and three years, to get a full night's sleep.
They're still around (40 years later), and doing great.
Ugh. Replacing addiction with addiction. Go this route if you have extreme medical conditions requiring it. EG. You are an alcoholic with serious liver issues, then by all means substitue xanax. Rehabs are full of people with xanax issues.