Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to enter a period of voluntary withdrawal from narcotic or alcohol addiction; to render someone free of alcohol or drug addiction.

1972		N.Y. Times 24 Dec. IV. 10 We can detox a heroin addict on an outpatient basis in three weeks .
1978		New Yorker 2 Oct. 33: They did get me detoxed and clean.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 106: For the next few days I want to detox and rest.
2003		N. Griffiths Stump 69: You, erm, you detoxed in . . . where was it?
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 396: The next big challenge: getting detoxed.
2013		C.E. Long ‘Two Sides of the Same Coin’ in ThugLit Aug. [ebook] [T]his discomfort will be like this for a while, at least until he's done detoxing.
2021		T. Swerdlow Straight Dope [ebook] I’m going to detox sometime tonight.

2. in weak use, to remove ‘impurities’ from one’s system.

2012

L. Redhead ‘Grassed’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] I’m stil detoxing [...] I’m not going to stuff my face full of shit restaurant food.

3. (US prison) to force an individual to undergo withdrawal from a narcotic addiction; thus detoxing, involuntary withdrawal.

2023

Rayman & Blau Riker’s 137: If you going upstate, they cut you off and bring you down. They detox you. You have to suffer. Detoxing was bad. You can’t sleep. You uncomfortable. You in pain. You throwing up.