If you’ve been suffering from insomnia or anxiety and are considering a sleep-aid drug or tranquilizer, you might be wise to consider more natural alternatives. For nearly 30 years, the risk of dependency on the benzodiazepine class of tranquilizers has been well documented. And while the newer class of “non-benzodiazepines” are said to be less risky, they also can lead to dependency and the need for a medical drug detox to safely and comfortably get off them.  Alternative, drug-free approaches to dealing with insomnia and anxiety that don’t lead to dependence and the possible need for drug detox exist throughout the world. There are a host of herbal remedies, homeopathic medicines and dietary adjustments described on literally thousands of web sites. Even a simple regimen of exercise has worked wonders for people with trouble sleeping or suffering from attacks of anxiety or nervousness.But if you’re one of the millions of Americans who already rely on prescription drugs to sleep or to calm you down, you may not know that long-term use of benzodiazepines can lead to physical dependence. If you decide to stop taking them, only a medical drug detox will help you avoid the withdrawal symptoms, and the ugly alternative – a long and uncomfortable “weaning off” period that can last as long as 6 months or a year or more, complicated by even more prescription drugs which have side effects of their own.Benzodiazepines, often referred to simply as “benzos”, are a class of some two dozen psychoactive drugs that include such well-known brands as Valium, Librium, Klonopin and Xanax. Benzos, which have been around since the 1960s, are routinely prescribed for anxiety, insomnia, agitation, seizures, and muscle spasms, and in some settings have even been used for alcohol withdrawal – an inferior approach to modern medical drug detox. They offer users a whole laundry-list of unpleasant side effects in addition to leading to dependencies and the need for drug detox.The relatively new non-benzos, which include more than a dozen drugs and such popular brands as Ambien, Sonata and Lunesta (you can’t watch television for more than 10 minutes these days without seeing a commercial for at least one of them), create some of the same calming effects as benzos. They’re called “non”-benzos because they have some of the same tranquilizing effects, but are structurally different. But non-benzos have their own list of nasty side effects, and although they are said to create fewer dependencies, medical drug detox centers still encounter these drugs on a regular basis, usually as part of a multidrug dependency involving other drugs and alcohol.Non-benzos produce some particularly horrible side effects, such as pronounced amnesia and hallucinations. They have been widely reported as causing a “fugue state” where people sleepwalk and then cook meals or even go driving in their cars while completely unconscious, with no memory of the events when awakened. As evidenced by the thousands of TV commercials, magazine and newspaper ads touting their use, and the billions of dollars pouring into the coffers of the pharmaceutical companies, both benzos and non-benzos have become part of America’s prescription drug culture – “take a pill for whatever ails you.” In spite of its need for a good night’s sleep, America needs to wake up and face the harsh reality of its dangerous dependence on prescription drugs. If you’re considering asking for a prescription, you should call a medical drug detox counselor and get the real facts – neither Big Pharma nor your doctor will tell you in plain language what you need to hear. And if you’re already a long-time user, you should call the same counselor and discuss whether you should get into a medical drug detox program right now.