History Main / NailedToTheWagon

* One ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'' villain's StartOfDarkness resulted from his legally mandated sobriety.

While this kind of gesture is usually well-intentioned, in RealLife completely cutting a person off from physically addicting drugs can cause withdrawal symptoms so severe that [[JustForFun/TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs they could actually die]] from the body's chemical imbalance. So for any readers hoping to get a loved one off the juice, remember to do so gradually.

* Nathan Algren in ''Film/TheLastSamurai''. A alcoholic for almost a decade after being forced to [[MyGreatestFailure slaughter an innocent Indian village]], he takes a job in Japan to train Imperial conscripts and is subsequently injured and captured during their first real battle. While he's on the mend, Taka gives him sake at first but then withholds it after seeing how desperately he it. Algren asks for sake, then screams for it, then screams period at the guilty memories he can't drown in booze anymore.

While this kind of gesture is usually well-intentioned, in RealLife completely cutting a person off from physically addicting drugs can cause withdrawal symptoms so severe that [[JustForFun/TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs they could actually die]] from the body's chemical imbalance. So for any readers hoping to get a loved one off the juice, remember to do so gradually.

* Nathan Algren in ''Film/TheLastSamurai''. A chronic alcoholic for almost a decade after being forced to [[MyGreatestFailure slaughter an innocent Indian village]], he takes a job in Japan to train Imperial conscripts and is subsequently injured and captured during their first real battle. While he's on the mend, Taka gives him sake at first but then withholds it after seeing how desperately he needs it. Algren asks for sake, then screams for it, then screams period at the guilty memories he can't drown in booze anymore.

* As apparent revenge against Maladict ([[AddictionDisplacement a vampire who's managed to replace the blood thirst with something else]]), a soldier in ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'' steals Maladict's coffee machine and beans, resulting in a vampire getting more and more insane and having mind flashes [[note]]One of his comrades sees not a European-style forest and hills about her but [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar a jungle with a helicopter in the air and looking for "Charlie"]][[/note]] and willing to revert to drinking blood as the book goes on. It turns out Strappi's just a [[TheNeidermeyer bastard]], and it helps that he [[VanHelsingHateCrimes hates Mal]]. Though attempted [[TeamKiller murder]]-by-proxy was maybe not the best way to show it.
* Long Joseph in ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'', who was the father to one of the heroes, drank to avoid responsibility for his children and sadness over his wife's death. He's forced sober when they hole up in an abandoned government base to escape assassins.

* ''Literature/ProfessorMoriartySeries'': In ''The Revenge of Moriarty'', Moriarty tries to enforce a version of this trope that is ''not'' meant to help the addict by cutting off Sherlock Holmes's cocaine supply, hoping that the withdrawal will mentally destroy him. It turns out that Holmes secretly kicked his cocaine addiction some time ago, and he uses Moriarty's plan to lure the professor into a trap that he barely escapes.

* In the ''Series/Babylon5'' episode "Objects at Rest", Londo visits Sheridan and Delenn at their home on Minbar to give them a gift, where there is no alcohol on the premises (or likely easily obtainable on the planet), due to the Minbari having a huge neurological aversion to alcohol that gives them a psychotic reaction to it. This is actually an unfortunate thing for Londo and all involved, given that [[spoiler: alcohol is the only thing that can temporarily disable [[PuppeteerParasite the Keeper]] that controls Londo, and disabling it is the only way that Londo can warn the couple of [[ItMakesSenseInContext the danger of the gift he brings them]]. (Likely the same Keeper also prevented Londo from packing booze for the trip, though he drank plenty on Centauri Prime, where the Drakh who controlled him through the Keeper could watch him directly as well.)]]

* One episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' featured an unsub kidnapping drug-addicted young women and keeping them locked in his basement without access to their drugs of choice, forcing them to not only quit but also become healthier in general (he even provided a UV light to compensate for the lack of sun). One of his victims even asks if it's a hardcore rehab program. Of course, that's not his ''actual'' goal. Drug addicts are just easy to get hold of, and he needs the girls healthy so that they can bear his children. If they don't manage that, or worse, give him ''daughters'', he kills them anyway.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' has him attempt to counsel his agent Bebe into quitting smoking. He ends up holing her up in his apartment for three days, but in the end, all the encouragement she needs is to be reminded that her "85 years old and on his third pacemaker" fiancé won't marry her unless she quits.
* Happens accidentally in ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' when The Gang (notably [[{{Hypochondria}} hypochondriac]] Frank) believes they're all coming down with a deadly illness. They're sealed in one of the bar's bathrooms, where their worsening physical conditions lead them to believe they really are dying. Eventually, Charlie reveals he replaced all the cleaning solution with alcohol, and they decide to have [[OneLastSmoke one last drink]]. Several minutes later, they find that all their symptoms have suddenly vanished, and realize that they weren't sick in a traditional sense, but rather going through withdrawal symptoms due to all being severe alcoholics. They decide to save dealing with the latter revelation [[IgnoredEpiphany for a later date.]]

** One episode shows why this can backfire. One of Margaret's old drinking buddies join the nursing staff. When she shows up to the OR drunk, she gets Nailed to the Wagon, promising not to drink. A few days later, delirium tremens hits when she's in a crowded mess tent; Colonel Potter recognizes the symptoms, gets her to the recovery tent immediately for proper treatment, and admonishes Margaret for making her quit cold turkey.

'''Raffi:''' I need a glass of red wine.\\
'''EHH:''' You disabled alcohol services from your quarters two days ago.\\

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', a [[CatFolk Khajiit]] by the name of J'zhar signs both himself and his brother J'darr up for an expedition to a remote ruin in order to break J'Darr's [[FantasticDrug Skooma]] addiction. It doesn't go well, and J'Darr eventually murders his brother with an ax.

* [[EruditeStoner Gamzee Makara]] from ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' gets nailed to the wagon when he runs out of [[FantasticDrug sopor slime]] to make pies from. The slime is known to have degenerative effects on troll's brains. To say "shit hits the fan" is putting it lightly, considering that [[spoiler:he murders Equius, Nepeta, and attempts to off Terezi.]]

* ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'': In the second episode, Earl kidnaps a mother of one of his friends and tries to help her by forcing her to quit smoking while trying to kick the habit himself. Catalina called it the sweetest, most justified kidnapping she's ever seen.

* ''Fanfic/MariaCampbellOfTheAstralClocktower'': Maria of Cainhurst, like many people in her world, was addicted to the power in everyone's blood. Even Maria, who started as a WideEyedIdealist and became a WellIntentionedExtremist, had a habit of losing control and drinking her maids dry on a regular basis. Then she gets reincarnated into the world of ''Fortune Lover'' as Maria Campbell, where she promptly discovers that no one's blood has any power whatsoever. She occasionally tries drinking it anyway, only to invariably be disappointed. She's basically an alcoholic in a world without alcohol.

* Jeff Portnoy, Jack Black's character from ''Film/TropicThunder''.

* In ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestria'' Littlepip is tranquilized by Velvet Remedy and dragged to a rehab clinic when her addiction to Party-Time Mint-Alls gets out of control.

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** ''Tintin and the Picaros'' has Captain Haddock getting slipped a drug by Professor Calculus that makes him extremely nauseated whenever he takes a sip of liquor. He's none too pleased when he finds out, but the drug becomes a ChekhovsGun when it's later used to sober up the Picaros so they can launch their revolution (the dictatorship has been parachuting crates of booze to them so they'll be too drunk to shoot straight).
** ''Red Rackham's Treasure'' has all his whisky onboard replaced with the pieces to Professor Calculus's submarine; he's none too pleased when he finds steel plates instead of his beloved whisky. Thankfully (for him) he doesn't have to wait ''too'' long after the discovery that his beloved alcohol has gone missing; once the wreck of the ''Unicorn'' is discovered, they find it's full of bottles of rum, which are (surprisingly) still drinkable with only the usual effects.
* Franchise/{{Batman}} does this to himself when he gets hooked on Venom. He locks himself up in the Batcave and doesn't come out until he's totally free of the drug.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'', when Elizabeth and Jack are dropped off on a remote island by Barbossa, Elizabeth is annoyed to discover that, rather than being as remote as Jack led people to believe, it was actually a hideaway for rumrunners. Jack plans to get piss-drunk and does so. After he passes out, Elizabeth takes the opportunity to use all the rest of the rum as fuel for a honking huge signal bonfire. It works, but Jack is more hung up on the fact that ''[[MemeticMutation all the rum is now gone]]''.
* Jeff Portnoy, Jack Black's character from ''Film/TropicThunder''.
* Nathan Algren in ''Film/TheLastSamurai''. A chronic alcoholic for almost a decade after being forced to [[MyGreatestFailure slaughter an innocent Indian village]], he takes a job in Japan to train Imperial conscripts and is subsequently injured and captured during their first real battle. While he's on the mend, Taka gives him sake at first but then withholds it after seeing how desperately he needs it. Algren asks for sake, then screams for it, then screams period at the guilty memories he can't drown in booze anymore.
* Renton has his parents, in ''Literature/{{Trainspotting}}'', lock him in his room to force himself through withdrawal. In his case, he ''does'' see PinkElephants. Specifically, a baby crawling towards him on the roof. It gets worse, but it sticks eventually.
* In ''Film/{{Cornered}}'', the storeowner forces his junkie nephew, who is craving for a fix, to stay in the apartment above the store every night until he's well.
* To make sure he's sober before his hearing, Denzel Washington in ''Film/{{Flight}}'' is confined to his hotel room with a security guard barring exit and entry, with a mini-bar stocked with nothing harder than Diet Coke. [[spoiler:The unlocked adjacent room, however, has a fully stocked mini-bar.]]
* In ''Film/{{Resolution}},'' our hero chains his friend to the wall to make him get straight. This turns out to be a ''very bad idea''.

* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' has a sexual variant when Sir Galahad the Chaste gets sidetracked to a [[ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere castle full of sex-starved babes]]. He's about to give in when Sir Lancelot nails him back to the wagon in an UnwantedRescue.

* During the UsefulNotes/GulfWar, P.J. O'Rouke was sent by ''Rolling Stone'' to join the war correspondents in Saudi Arabia, and recounted that because the strictly Islamic nation was dry in more ways than one, some of them sobered for the first time in years (himself possibly included), and found that "what they thought was the pain of genius was actually a hangover".
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'':
** ''Literature/CatchingFire'': Upon the announcement of the Quarter Quell, Peeta dumps all of Haymitch's liquor, much to the latter's dismay, and caps it off by going to District 12's liquor seller and threatening to turn her in to the Peacekeepers if she sells to him. This is in spite of the fact that Haymitch had previously had a rather terrifying withdrawal when he ran out of liquor, but the sobriety doesn't last long anyway.
** ''{{Literature/Mockingjay}}'': Happens to Haymitch again when the survivors of District 12 move into the underground bunkers of District 13, where all alcoholic beverages are strictly forbidden and even the rubbing alcohol in the hospital is locked away. He's kept in seclusion until he recovers enough to be presentable.
* As apparent revenge against Maladict ([[AddictionDisplacement a vampire who's managed to replace the blood thirst with something else]]), a soldier in ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'' steals Maladict's coffee machine and beans, resulting in a vampire getting more and more insane and having mind flashes [[note]]One of his comrades sees not a European-style forest and hills about her but [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar a jungle with a helicopter in the air and looking for "Charlie"]][[/note]] and willing to revert to drinking blood as the book goes on. It turns out Strappi's just a [[TheNeidermeyer bastard]], and it helps that he [[VanHelsingHateCrimes hates Mal]]. Though attempted [[TeamKiller murder]]-by-proxy was maybe not the best way to show it.
* Eddie of Creator/StephenKing's ''[[Franchise/TheDarkTower Dark Tower]]'' books gets nailed to the wagon when [[spoiler: Roland kidnaps him into a heroin-less Mid-World through a magic door in ''The Drawing of the Three''. Notably, the nailing is permanent]].
* Also happens to Jack in King's ''Literature/TheShining'', since all liquor was removed from the Overlook during the hotel's shutdown for the winter.
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' book ''Proven Guilty'', [[spoiler:Molly Carpenter]] inflicts this on a pair of addicts by using BlackMagic to rewire their cravings into prohibitive revulsion for their drug of choice. Although it's effective and well-intentioned, it's also a form of MindRape for overriding their free will, and one of her victims winds up with serious psychological damage because she got careless.
* Creator/PeterBenchley's novel ''Rummies'' has addicts sent to a rehab center that relies on this, forcing its patients to immediately quit and avoid whatever they're addicted to.
* How Ryan Miller of ''Literature/Ripper2014'' got sober: he was entitled to accept help from a program from the Veterans Administration, but he was too proud or too macho for that. A like-minded neighbor had him strip naked and left him by himself in his apartment without any of his clothes, his phone or his computer for three days. He is absolutely miserable and even contemplates breaking out the window. But when she comes to get him, he is clean and manages to stay clean for years.
* Paula's parents force her to detox in ''Literature/UglyMemories'' by Creator/MLLanzillotta. This [[Main/TruthInTelevision hurts more than it helps]]. In fact, the withdrawal-induced sleep deprivation indirectly leads to [[spoiler: Paula getting kicked out of rehab]] at the story's climax.

* Happens accidentally in ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' when The Gang (notably [[{{Hypochondria}} hypochondriac]] Frank) believes they're all coming down with a deadly illness. They're sealed in one of the bar's bathrooms, where their worsening physical conditions lead them to believe they really are dying. Eventually, Charlie reveals he replaced all the cleaning solution with alcohol, and they decide to have [[OneLastSmoke one last drink]]. Several minutes later, they find that all their symptoms have suddenly vanished, and realize that they weren't sick in a traditional sense, but rather going through withdrawal symptoms due to all being severe alcoholics. They decide to save dealing with the latter revelation [[IgnoredEpiphany for a later date.]]
* In ''{{Series/Eureka}}'', Doctor Grant (who is from the late 1940s and believes SmokingIsCool) is injected with nanobots that hurt him when he smokes.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Dean and Bobby lock Sam up in the panic room to "detox" from demon's blood.
* ''Series/StargateUniverse'': Dr. Rush. Involuntary caffeine and nicotine withdrawal (he was a heavy smoker and coffee drinker on Earth but they could only grab emergency supplies and they didn't include coffee or cigarettes) is amongst the reasons why he blacks out in the middle of a rant.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' has him attempt to counsel his agent Bebe into quitting smoking. He ends up holing her up in his apartment for three days, but in the end, all the encouragement she needs is to be reminded that her "85 years old and on his third pacemaker" fiancé won't marry her unless she quits.
* Charlie from ''Series/{{Lost}}'' is a heroin addict until he crashes on the island, where he has no access to drugs. [[spoiler: [[OffTheWagon Or so he thinks.]]]]
* In the ''Series/Babylon5'' episode "Objects at Rest", Londo visits Sheridan and Delenn at their home on Minbar to give them a gift, where there is no alcohol on the premises (or likely easily obtainable on the planet), due to the Minbari having a huge neurological aversion to alcohol that gives them a psychotic reaction to it. This is actually an unfortunate thing for Londo and all involved, given that [[spoiler: alcohol is the only thing that can temporarily disable [[PuppeteerParasite the Keeper]] that controls Londo, and disabling it is the only way that Londo can warn the couple of [[ItMakesSenseInContext the danger of the gift he brings them]]. (Likely the same Keeper also prevented Londo from packing booze for the trip, though he drank plenty on Centauri Prime, where the Drakh who controlled him through the Keeper could watch him directly as well.)]]

* One episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' featured an unsub kidnapping drug-addicted young women and keeping them locked in his basement without access to their drugs of choice, forcing them to not only quit but also become healthier in general (he even provided a UV light to compensate for the lack of sun). One of his victims even asks if it's a hardcore rehab program. Of course, that's not his ''actual'' goal. Drug addicts are just easy to get hold of, and he needs the girls healthy so that they can bear his children. If they don't manage that, or worse, give him ''daughters'', he kills them anyway.

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', a [[CatFolk Khajiit]] by the name of J'zhar signs both himself and his brother J'darr up for an expedition to a remote ruin in order to break J'Darr's [[FantasticDrug Skooma]] addiction. It doesn't go well, and J'Darr eventually murders his brother with an ax.

* Tanked gets Nailed To The Wagon in ''Webcomic/BearNuts'' chapter 29: "Tanked Goes Dry", when one of Evil's pranks causes the zoo to lose its liquor license, cutting off Tanked's supply. None of the other bears are particularly happy about this since Tanked starts throwing tantrums all over the place. The following chapter (":[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Origin Of Tanked]]") reveals that, thanks to a particular childhood experience, going sober might be legitimately bad for Tanked.
* [[EruditeStoner Gamzee Makara]] from ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' gets nailed to the wagon when he runs out of [[FantasticDrug sopor slime]] to make pies from. The slime is known to have degenerative effects on troll's brains. To say "shit hits the fan" is putting it lightly, considering that [[spoiler:he murders Equius, Nepeta, and attempts to off Terezi.]]

* One ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'' villain's StartOfDarkness resulted from his legally mandated sobriety.
* ''WesternAnimation/LifesAZoo'': Happens to the entire cast in "Self Helpless" when all the housemates are forcibly deprived of their addictive vices.

** ''{{Literature/Mockingjay}}'': Happens to Haymitch again when the survivors of District 12 move into the underground bunkers of District 13, where all alcoholic beverages are strictly forbidden.

* Upon the announcement of the Quarter Quell in ''Literature/CatchingFire'', Peeta dumps all of Haymitch's liquor, much to the latter's dismay, and caps it off by going to District 12's liquor seller and threatening to turn her in to the Peacekeepers if she sells to him. This is in spite of the fact that Haymitch had previously had a rather terrifying withdrawal when he ran out of liquor, but the sobriety doesn't last long anyway.

* ''Film/{{Ghost}}'': The "subway ghost" has learned how to manipulate objects (and teaches the protagonist), but not enough to light and smoke a cigarette (which apparently was his addiction when he was living). "I'd do anything for just one drag!"

* ''[[Anime/ElHazardTheMagnificentWorld El-Hazard]]''[='s=] Mr. Fujisawa: He hates being sober, but he gains super-strength from it, so the other characters enter a conspiracy to keep him off the bottle. He doesn't take it well. And while El-Hazard does have native alcoholic beverages, in the OAV at least, Fujisawa is also a smoker and El-Hazard has no tobacco equivalent. Fujisawa runs out of smokes about halfway through the last episode and [[MustHaveNicotine the nicotine cravings]] kick in just in time for the finale. Good thing it turns out that it turns his sober level super-strength UpToEleven.

* One day, an alcoholic, a heroin addict, and a smoker go to Heaven. Saint Peter tells them that in order to access Heaven, they will be locked in a room with an infinite supply of their favorite drug for a year, and, should they use it even once, they'll go to Hell. One year later, Saint Peter finds the alcoholic laying in a pile of empty bottles and the heroin addict full of needles, but the smoker calmly sits in the middle of the room with not a single cigarette used. Saint Peter congratulates him and asks how he did it. The smoker calmly answers: "You forgot the lighter."

* Upon the announcement of the Quarter Quell in ''[[Literature/TheHungerGames Catching Fire]]'', Peeta dumps all of Haymitch's liquor, much to the latter's dismay, and caps it off by going to District 12's liquor seller and threatening to turn her in to the Peacekeepers if she sells to him. This is in spite of the fact that Haymitch had previously had a rather terrifying withdrawal when he ran out of liquor, but the sobriety doesn't last long anyway.

* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', following the fourth Palace, the gang spends a week rehabilitating resident Main/{{Hikikomori}} Futaba [[spoiler: Sakura, who had spent two years shut away in her room at Sojiro's house due to the trauma of her mother's apparent suicide and the subsequent shunning she received from her family]]. Somewhat [[AvertedTrope averted]] in that, while she takes numerous opportunities to hide behind someone or wear a mask, she clearly wants to improve and has little trouble adding to conversations or even holding them if the subject interests her.
* You can do this to colonists with addictions in VideoGame/{{Rimworld}}, by [[LiteralDisarming removing both their legs]] (by installing and removing peg legs) so they physically can't get to the drug stash (and replacing the legs with prostheses once they are no longer addicted). You can also just arrest them and lock them up until they get through withdrawal but that has the risk of them violently resisting arrest, or breaking out and heading back to the drug stash. If you want to avoid blatant VideoGameCrueltyPotential you can simply burn all the drugs, but some are valuable trade goods, or useful in certain circumstances.

[[folder:Web Comics]]