Absinthe (WormWood) Making a comeback in US and Europe - linked to convulsions, madness, and death.

California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs ^

[chance33_98]

Absinthe

After a long absence, the liqueur absinthe is making a comeback. A recent news report noted that the

wormwood-based liqueur, long declared illegal in most countries, has become popular in underground

circles in Europe and the United States. The drink was popular among artists and writers at the end of

the 19th century and has been linked to convulsions, madness, and death.

Absinthe is an anise-flavored liqueur distilled with oil of wormwood, a leafy herb. Absinthe also

contains flavorful herbs such as hyssop, lemon balm, and angelica. Wormwood is

Artemisia

absinthum

. The active ingredient is thujone, a neurotoxin. The drink is distinguished by its blue-

green clarity, due to its chlorophyll content. It was traditionally served with water and a cube of

sugar; the sugar cube was placed on an "absinthe spoon" and the liquor was drizzled over the

sugar into the glass of water. The sugar helped take the bitter edge from the absinthe; when

poured into the water, the liquor turned milky white.

Wormwood had been used medicinally since the Middle Ages, to exterminate tapeworms in

the abdomen while leaving the human host uninjured and even rejuvenated by the experience.

At the end of the 18th century, the herb became recreational as people discovered they could

get high from it. However, it was unacceptably bitter.

An undocumented distiller found a solution by inventing absinthe, which delivered both the

herb and alcohol in a beverage with a flavor resembling licorice. The most well-known maker of

absinthe was distiller Henri-Louis Pernod. Absinthe became popular among the cultural

community in 1890s Paris, with Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Verlaine, and Oscar Wilde among its

most ardent imbibers.

Side effects from consumption of wormwood include renal failure, convulsions, involuntary

evacuations, abnormal respiration, and foaming at the mouth. Patients hospitalized in Paris for

absinthe intoxication were noted to suffer from seizures, chest effusion, reddish urine, and

kidney congestion.

Around the turn of the century, it was noted that heavy absinthe users had a propensity toward

madness and suicide. By the 1910s absinthe became banned in the Western world, along with

opiates, cocaine, and cannabis. In the United States, it became banned in 1912. Interestingly,

however, the current U.S. Customs restrictions on the importation of absinthe only date to

1958. Absinthe is still available in Spain, Portugal, and the Czech Republic, where it is quite

trendy among patrons of bars and coffeehouses. It is also legal in Britain and reportedly is

available in Andorra and Denmark.

After absinthe was banned, imitations containing anise and other legal herbs in place of

wormwood, appeared. The most well known is Pernod, which is very much like absinthe but

without the wormwood. The similarity is only in color and taste; Pernod is without the mind-

numbing characteristics of absinthe. The practice of adding aromatic bitters to cocktails also

derives from a nostalgia for contraband wormwood.

Source:

WHAT IS ABSINTHE? And what does it have to do with New Orleans?

by Vicki Richman

and Chuck Taggart

---

Page 3

2

Facts About Absinthe

The word absinthe is derived from the Greek absinthion, meaning "undrinkable."

Wormwood is mentioned in the bible a dozen times, including the Revelation of St. John:

"And the third part of the waters became wormwood, and many men died of the waters

because they became bitter."

The Russian word for absinthe is chernobyl.

Leaves of the absinthe plant are an effective deterrent to vermin. Thomas Tusser, in his

1577 book

July's Husbandry

, notes "Where chamber is sweeped, and wormwood is strown,

no flea for his life dare abide to be known."

Pliny the Elder reported that the champions of Roman chariot races were given a cup of

absinthe soaked in wine as a reminder that even victory has its bitter side.

The "Purl" of Tudor England was a drink composed of hot ale and wormwood. Samuel

Pepys mentions drinking it in his diaries.

At the turn of the century, the Pernod Fils distillery in Pontarlier, France produced 30,000

liters of absinthe a day and shipped it around the world.

The Pernod plant was struck by lightning in 1901, causing an alcohol fire that raged out of

control for four days. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of burning absinthe were discharged

into the Doubs River, flavoring it with anise for miles downstream.

Celebrated absinthe drinkers included the painters Lautrec, Gauguin, Manet, Van Gogh and

Picasso, along with the writers Rimbaud, Verlaine, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allen Poe and Jack

London.

Thujone, the principal active ingredient in absinthe, is chemically similar to THC, and is

thought to attach to the same receptors in the brain.

Source:

Absinthe, History in a Bottle

, by Barnaby Conrad III (1988, Chronicle Books)

[chance33_98]

The Russian word for absinthe is chernobyl.

How Fitting....

Sorry about the formatting - is a PDF through google/unclesam

[chance33_98]

Late night and bored ping

[Thornwell Simons]

I read an article recently that said the harmful effects of absinthe may have actually been overstated -- not that it was good for you or anything, but that it may not have been as harmful as people thought at the time; basically, it centered around confounding variables -- those who drank absinthe tended to do other drugs as well, etc. Remember, the stuff's heyday was back when you could buy opium over the counter. But I can't find the link at the moment.

[chance33_98]

You take the fun out of everything :)

[A.J.Armitage]

.

[Looking4Truth]

Aha! Now I know what was kept in those rinsed out 2-liter soda bottles I saw in several places in Europe, mainly 'after hours'. I think I may have had it once, but I usually drank beer or wine or ouzo or a shot of Jack Daniels every now and then.

A German girl I was seeing for a while turned me on to a cool whiskey drink that she called 'honey whiskey'. You get a small jar of honey, a pint or so bottle of whiskey (depending on how strong you want it) and some dried (not powdered) anise (maybe an ounce or two, I don't remember).

Slowly heat the honey in a saucepan over low heat. Keep the heat very low to avoid evaporating the alcohol out as you add the whiskey to the honey. Mix until even consistency and pour in a suitable sized bottle with the anise 'sprigs' in the bottom. The longer you leave it before you drink it the more the 'sprigs' of anise release their flavor into the honey and whiskey. I kept it in the fridge and don't know how it would behave at room tempurature. It's good warm right off of the stove or cold.

[brat]

Interesting Truth...thanks.

[nopardons]

There is a fascinating book about Ansinthe : " ABSINTHE History In A Bottle ", by Barnaby Conrad III; if anyone is interested.

I knew that Absinthe was agin being manufactured; however, without the wormwood. I really wonder just how correct this info is... that some Absinthe, now has wormwood in it. There have been cahches of ORIGINAL Absinthe, which some people have bought, at late as the 1980's; but, it was an "underground" sort of thing.

[nopardons]

Whatever you read, was NOT true. Absinthe was every bit as dangerous, to the over induldger , as was purported.

[Djarum]

Side effects from consumption of wormwood include renal failure, convulsions, involuntary evacuations, abnormal respiration, and foaming at the mouth.

Involuntary evacuations, as in a bogus fire drill? This sounds like fun!

[Thornwell Simons]

Here we go, I did a google search and found an "absinthe FAQ." I don't think it's what I read before, but it seems to have a lot of the same info.

WHAT IS THE ACTIVE COMPONENT IN ABSINTHE?

This issue is not entirely resolved. Alcohol is definitely one main component. However, another candidate is the monoterpene, thujone, which which is considered a convulsant. Thujone's mechanism of action is not known, although structural similarities between thujone and tetrahydrocannabinol (the active component in marijuana) have led some to hypothesize that both substances have the same site of action in the brain. Thujone makes up 40 to 90% (by weight) of the essence of wormwood, from which absinthe is made (2). Thus, thujone would appear to be a good candidate for a second active component in absinthe. Indeed, thujone has long been considered to be the neurotoxic cause of absinthism.

However, the direct evidence to support this idea is scant. Absinthe is 75% alcohol. Therefore, alcohol's effects will limit the amount of thujone one can ingest. Quite simply, you can only drink a moderate amount of absinthe before you become very drunk from the alcohol. Thujone would have to be active at a very low dose or be present in high quantities in order to have any appreciable effect. In the "This and That" column in Trends in the Pharmacological Sciences, "B. Max" made the following dose calculations:

How much thujone was present in absinthe? Steam distillation of wormwood yields 0.27-0.40% of a bitter, dark-green oil (3) In a typical recipe for absinthe, 2.5 kg of wormwood were used in preparing 100 liters of absinthe (4). Typically, 1.5 oz was consumed (diluted with water) per tipple (5). This is equivalent to 4.4 mg wormwood oil per drink, or 2-4 mg thujone. This is far below the level at which acute pharmacological effects are observed. Even chronic administration of 10 mg/kg thujone to rats does not alter spontaneous activity of conditioned behavior (6). The literature on the pharmacology of thujone is, to put it bluntly, second rate, and conclusions as to its effects have been extrapolated far beyond the experimental base (7).

Furthermore, the symptoms of absinthism do not appear to be that unlike those of alcoholism. Hallucinations, sleeplessness, tremors, paralysis, and convulsions can also be noted in cases of alcoholism. This suggests that the syndrome "absinthism" mayy well have been caused by alcohol. Because absinthe is no longer popular, little research has been done into its effects on health. Reports on thujone's/absinthe's toxicity seem to rely mostly on case reports from the beginning of the century or earlier. Lacking more recent research, it seems most reasonable to take reports of absinthe's toxicity with skepticism. Essentially, there is little good data to suggest that absinthe's active components were anything other than alcohol.

(In fairness, I should mention that several individuals who have taken home-made absinthe or who have drunk it where it is legal have claimed to me that it produced an intoxication unlike that of alcohol.)

In addition to alcohol and thujone, absinthe sometimes contained methanol (wood alcohol), which could have contributed to the symptoms of absinthism. Calamus (acorus calamus) and nutmeg (myristica fragrans) were also sometimes used in making absinthe. Both plants have reputations for being psychedelics, although to my best of knowledge only nutmeg's psychedelic properties have been well established. However, it seems unlikely that either plant would have been added in the quanitities necessary to produce psychoactive effects.

source: http://hbd.org/brewery/library/absfaq.html

The basic problem seems to be that Absinthe was prohibited worldwide so early on that no real scientific work was ever done to actually establish precisely how harmful it actually was. I'm not saying it isn't -- for all I know, one drop a day for two weeks will melt your brain -- but it does seem at least possible that absinthe isn't as harmful as it has been made out to be in the past. I'd like to see some actual evidence either way, beyond "everybody knows."

[nopardons]

You are totally uninformed, dear. There were, in fact, several studies done in the early part of the 20th. century ; some propaganda, others , quite serious and sound. The USA's Deptarment of Argriculture stared one, in the summer of 1907. That exhaustivce study lasted five years, and was instrumental in getting the stuff banned here.The most important study, in Europe, was conducted by Dr. Valentine Magnan .He was a highly respected authority on alcolhic insanity, who began his study in 1864. " Magnan's studies led him to conclude that absinthe produced reactions in human beings distinct from delirium tremens. In 1874, Magnan studied 250 acute cases of alcholism and concluded that while normal alcoholics suffered from delirium tremens,absinthists were prone to epileptic convulsions called " absinthe epilepsy ".

In 1872, the British medical journal, THE LANCET , stated that the principle effects of wormwood oil, was epileptiform attacks.

In 1889,two French scientists, M. Cadeac and A. Mueunier studied ALL the components of Absinthe, and found that the other herbs used, besides wormwood, also had powerful, damaging qualities </B., as well.

As to the thujone, there's lots of info on that, which completely contridicts the article you found and posted.

Since I am typing from the above mentioned book, and not just CCPing some random Goggle search, I shan't post any more. Just know, that what you are taking as gospel, on some random website, found in Goggle, is NOT , by a long shot, the deffinative authority, on this topic.

[nopardons]

Here we go again. The topic, that we thought we had thoroughly covered, long ago, has reared its head again. Help me . once again, post the FACTS ; as opposed to the drivel, that we thought had been put to rest. LOL

[Prodigal Son]

The article doesn't describe what sort of high you can get from it. I like to know these things ;-)

[MikeJ]

The stuff tastes like turpentine; this is not a coincidence, because the compounds are chemically related.

There are better things to drink... in my opinion, absinthe was the 19th century equivilent of huffing gasoline fumes.

[HumanaeVitae]

It's a hallucinogen. One of the writers for Maxim got drunk on it with two of his buddies as an assignment. The resulting article was pretty hilarious.

Some people have conjectured that Napoleon's armies were half-nuts on this stuff. Pernod shows up in many Hemingway novels, notably the first two. Johnny Depp's opium-addicted character in "From Hell" spikes his glass of absinthe with laudanum (opium derivative).

Just do a search for it on the internet. It's pretty available outside the U.S. (no, never had it, never will).

[Prodigal Son]

Yeah, I remember Depp's character doing that. What about Pernod nowadays? Does it still have the stuff in it? God knows I drank my fair share when I lived in France- it's pretty good on ice. I never had hallucinations though.

So, would it be as strong as LSD or mescaline or mushrooms for example- or would it be less potent? I'm not particularly interested in running out and trying the stuff (foaming at the mouth doesn't sound like too much fun) but I'm interested in it and what it does for general trivial value.

[Gumlegs]

I seem to recall a Hemmingway description of an Absinthe high that went along the lines of, "With regular alcohol, the room goes around sideways. With absinthe, it goes around top to bottom."

[wardaddy]

Folks will always find a way to rationalize the safety factor in getting high from whatever source. I'm at work now and my Absinthe coffee table book is at home so I'm sort of writing blind. I'm sure Google will have the sites of a plethora of absinthe enthusiasts who claim to have seen God...or Lautrec..lol. There is a veritable mountain of evidence out there that could lead a reasonable person to believe that authentic Absinthe overindulgence will most likely lead to even worse consequences than conventional liquor...which is bad enough on it's own. Since I hardly drink at all sans an occasional half glass of a nice Bordeaux or perhaps a taste of a fine Pilsner or a warm Bitter, I am no longer much of an authority on the "virtues" of imbibing to effect.

Oh yes...one last thing. Absinthe is historically consumed for considerable effect. No one sits around sipping it for taste since the taste is considered by most rather vile.

Best Regards.

[Thornwell Simons]

Oh come now. You can't even come up with anything from the 20th century, and you're claiming authority? I'm sorry, but if the best medical science you can come up with to support your position is over a century out of date, I'm not exactly inclined to consider your position well-supported. Don't you have anything from an era when "bleeding" wasn't the height of medical science?

And one tip, dearie; anyone who calls someone else "dear" in a thread like this, makes themselves look like an arrogant know-nothing.

[wardaddy]

It has never been claimed to have hallucinogenic properties even close to LSD, psilocybin, or mescaline. That is a myth. It may indeed have a slightly different effect than conventional liquor but from there it's a very large leap to 750 mikes of acid or a handful of shrooms or a few buttons of mescaline. Folks ought not get their hopes up...LOL.

[Koblenz]

(no, never had it, never will).

I drank it once. Didn't notice any type of high. It tasted pretty bad. So in summary, it tastes bad, it can lead to health problems (probably overstated) and it's illegal. So I don't see why people like it.

[wardaddy]

Maxim writer??...I love the mag but isn't that sort of an oxymoron. It's mostly eye candy and fluff pieces. Like Cosmo or Glamour for horndogs.

[2Trievers]

Edgar Degas (1834 - 1917)

The Absinthe Drinkers (Posed by Ellen Andrée and Marcellin Desboutin (1876)

Oil on Canvas
36¼ x 26¾" (92 x 68 cm)
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

[A.J.Armitage]

And one tip, dearie; anyone who calls someone else "dear" in a thread like this, makes themselves look like an arrogant know-nothing.

Of course, it's hard for her not to look like an arrogant know-nothing, because that's just what she is. It actually rather amazing how many topics she's got spurious facts on.

I have a hard time taking anyone's comments on absinthe who thinks there's such a thing as absinthe without wormwood seriously.

[Billthedrill]

Side effects from consumption of wormwood include renal failure, convulsions, involuntary evacuations, abnormal respiration, and foaming at the mouth.

Sounds like fun to me, but it's kinda expensive. I get the same effects from reading Molly Ivins or Helen Thomas.

[wardaddy]

You should by all means do your own research and experimentation and come back and let us all know first hand.

Nopardons is not arrogant. She is a very bright FReeper who doesn't tolerate naivete well. She like I am concerned that more than a few young FReepers wish to believe that this rediscovered intoxicant is really safer than supposed. I along with her hope that those of you guys tempted to take the plunge would at least be cognizant of the risk and exercise caution. That's all.

[cicero's_son]

Like Cosmo or Glamour for horndogs."

Have you actually seen a copy of Cosmo or Glamour recently? They are for horndogettes.

[Prodigal Son]

Well, comparing it to those things is a useless exercise for me anyway- I've never done any of those drugs. I had an uncle that was into everything under the sun though, he used to describe his experiences pretty thoroughly. No, I was just wondering because I knew there was this connection with Pernod and I wanted to know if Pernod still has the substance in it. I drank Pernod often in France and never experienced anything more than a glass of wine would have left me with.

I've had morphine given to me after breaking my leg, so I can understand, I guess, how someone could get to liking that effect. That covers heroin, opium smokers and what not. I'd never do either of those things because if it felt better than morphine... Well, I'd be better off not having to fight that temptation if you know what I mean. I just don't have anything, any frame of reference to compare this absynthe to. Maybe- I've taken percocet and drank a bottle of wine(actually while I was recuperating from the above mentioned broken bone)- that left me feeling profoundly... Nonaction-oriented, really, really relaxed. Would you reckon this stuff would be like that?

[Thornwell Simons]

She's obviously arrogant, because she assumes that those who disagree with her are doing so out of naivete, rather than out of simple skepticism. I'm fully prepared to believe that absinthe is as harmful as everyone thinks -- but I want to see proof, and I don't consider hundred-year-old studies to be sufficient to establish a modern standard of proof.

My basic opinion is that if you want to make something illegal -- a gun, a drug, a brand of car, whatever -- there should be clear, credible evidence that it is in fact a net harm to the public. THere may have been such evidence, by the standards of the time, when Absinthe was made illegal, but medical science has advanced considerably in the past century, and it seems like re-examing the stuff might be a good and timely idea, because the science that backed up the absinthe ban is likely to have become outdated.

Stop worrying about how "naieve" other posters are -- an inherently arrogant position, as it inherently assumes you know better than other posters. If nopardons is right, she doesn't need you to defend her, her posts will stand on their own.

[weegee]

Much less potent than any of those.

I've heard tell that there are hallucinagenic properties to tequilla in sufficient quantity.

I saw Absinthe as the first wave of prohibition. The temperance advocates played up the horror stories for decades trying to outlaw demon liquor.

[NC_Libertarian]

I know! Let's declare war on it! :)

[wardaddy]

My wife occasionally buys glamour for the make-up section. The articles in there are leftie urban fluff written by Sex In The City types who wish they were men and celebrate the right to abortion. It's monolithic trash in my view.

[NC_Libertarian]

BTW, you can EASILY get absynthe in the U.S. by mail order. F*** the law, it has no meaning.

[wardaddy]

Opiates would be much preferred to me for an addiction should I choose to have one over alcohol. They are of course not harmless either but do indeed have a serious and effective medical purpose.

[weegee]

So in summary, it tastes bad, it can lead to health problems (probably overstated) and it's illegal. So I don't see why people like it.

"and it's illegal" - forbidden fruit. It carries an artistic "mystique". Do authors drink mint julips in this day and age?

The tour book I had for Czech Republic said that it tasted like alcoholic shampoo; they didn't miss the mark.

[wardaddy]

As I stated before, if you are indeed skeptical of the evidence against Absinthe, I suggest you conduct your own study and please by all means get back to us.

If you wish to try to shift this thread to an Anti-WOD thread, you will have to find someone besides me to engage you.

Good Day.

[Redcloak]

Ya beat me to that Degas!

I suppose that the Drug Warriors will now want to ban wine glasses as "drug paraphernalia".

[AppyPappy]

You guys could make a drug thread out of dog show.

I grow Wormwood and nothing will touch it. Deer, bugs, nada. I wouldn't get drink it with a gun to my head.

[chance33_98]

You guys could make a drug thread out of dog show.

Now that would be entertainment!

[Wm Bach]

I can't believe it...40 posts and nobody said it:
Drinking it makes you absinthe minded.

Freepers have better self control than I realized.

[weegee]

To me, the case against absinthe was always WOD. Other substances were banned in subsequent decades but I am unaware of anything banned for consumption earlier.

This isn't to justify legalization (of Absinthe or other drugs/attitude execting chemicals) but just my perception.

I have a brewing encyclopedia from the middle of the 19th century and it had a recipe for absinthe. The brewing process was 2 years and I doubt that the novices that are home brewing are letting it go that long. Czech Republic and some other nations have commercial brand bottled Absinthe.

I seem to recall that the brewing book said that recipes vary and that several of the ingredients were supposed to be toxic. No mention was made of hallucinagenic properties (or dillusional visions). There was also a recipe for fermented milk (although I think that it is supposed to distill to a clear alcohol).

Brewing/fermentation is a simple technology. The technology has been lost and regained several times. Fermentation is part of the natural decay breakdown of fruits but it must be distilled in order to collect the concentrated essence for human consumption.

[Age of Reason]

The stuff tastes like turpentine

So does gin.

[weegee]

You guys could make a drug thread out of dog show.

Now that would be entertainment!

Man, that's good "labrador"!

[wardaddy]

I am pretty adept at fermentation myself. Buck is easy to make with some fruits...citrus kicks off quickest...or oddly tomatoes....a little bread or yeast and lots of sugar and a fair amount of water....then just place it in a fairly warm place and wait 4-7 days. Be sure to let the air out daily or it can explode from the fermentation gas build-up. I have never distilled any buck but I think you basically just heat it up and then filter the steam and collect the condensation essentially.

When consumed be prepared for stomach gas. It's quite yeasty.

[Publius]

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.

[cicero's_son]

The articles in there are leftie urban fluff written by Sex In The City types who wish they were men and celebrate the right to abortion...

I'd agree, though I would add that the very point of these magazines (and a good deal of our popular culture) is to mold women into homosexual men. And don't think for a moment that they won't succeed.

In the new universal homo-aesthetic, the ideal female body type is a lean-hipped, muscled "mini-man" with a couple of silicone mounds in place of the honking pecs. The important skills these magazines impart to young women include selecting the right lube for anal sex, improving one's fellating technique, getting away with adultery, and coasting through life for as long as possible without any meaningful human commitments.

Not that men have fared any better. As askel5 has pointed out on another thread, male tourists from "flyover country" who come to places like New Orleans or New York generally dress themselves (unknowingly) in the clothes that the urban gay elite were wearing 2 seasons ago.

It's pitiful.

Two virtues that were once essential to our civilization have become nearly impossible to sustain: chastity in women and dignity in men.

[wardaddy]

I am one of those rare folks who actually likes the juniper taste of gin...with olives.

[2Trievers]

LOL ... Isn't it a GREAT painting?

And don't forget corks while we're at it ... after all they keep the absinthe from evaporating! &;-)

[Wm Bach]

Absinthe of evidence is not evidence of absinthe.