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It is possible, he says, that absinthe from smaller companies or even backyard sources may have had other nasty ingredients that explain the drink's effects. Irvine says that one limitation of the Lachenmeier study is that nearly all the absinthe studied came from large and well known manufacturers.
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"They were giving heroin to their babies for teething pains." "At that time people were routinely consuming things like heroin and cocaine," he says. He says the high-alcohol absinthe would have been consumed in relatively large amounts in the past because it was very cheap and easy to make, and because there was a lack of understanding about drug effects. He says the drink's herb oils, like wormwood oil, are not soluble in water which is why when absinthe is mixed with water it turns milky.Īnd he says a high alcohol concentration is required to keep the oils in solution. "I think that the evidence that there was some sort of psychedelic component to absinthe has been pretty shaky all the way along," he says. Scientific data cannot explain absinthe's reputation as a psychedelic substance, says Lachenmeier, concluding that absinthism was probably just plain old alcoholism. They found that thujone levels in these bottles are similar to those in modern absinthe and not enough to cause the effects attributed to it.
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They studied more than a dozen samples of rare, still-sealed bottles from France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and the US. The researchers carried out the most comprehensive analysis to date of absinthe from bottles of a vintage before the drink was banned in some countries. And theoretical calculations suggest high levels of thujone in absinthe are to blame for absinthism. He says thujone is toxic and has some psychedelic effects. Many people believe the active ingredient in absinthe is thujone, a chemical found in wormwood, one of the herbs used to flavour and colour the drink, says Irvine. Some say artist Vincent van Gogh chopped off his ear and later shot himself in the chest after drinking it. The drink is poured through a sugar cube, goes cloudy, and some people set it on fire, says Irvine, who researches the pharmacology and toxicology of illicit drugs.īut in its heyday many drinkers developed 'absinthe madness' or 'absinthism', a collection of symptoms including hallucinations, facial contractions, numbness and dementia.Ībsinthe soon gained a reputation as a dangerous psychedelic drink and was banned after growing reports of illness and violence. German researcher Dr Dirk Lachenmeier of the Chemisches und Veterinäruntersuchungsamt Karlsruhe and colleagues publish their study online in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.Ībsinthe has been dubbed the 'the green fairy' or 'the green muse' and was once widely used by 19th century Parisian bohemians, many of whom believed it could expand consciousness.Īustralian drug expert Dr Rodney Irvine of the University of Adelaide, who was not involved in the research, says there have always been many rituals surrounding its use. Instead, they say, the drink's reputation is down to nothing more exotic than its high alcohol content. Absinthe, which inspiration-seeking artists once drunk in excess, is not a psychedelic beverage after all, say international researchers.