Study: Absinthe Hallucinations May Be A Myth

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Sorry, Absinthe Trippers: Scientists Say You're Just Really Drunk

The long-cherished idea that absinthe, an anise-flavored alcoholic beverage with a history of use by artists like Van Gogh and Picasso, is or ever was hallucinogenic might have met its death by data today.

German scientists put old bottles of the substance to the test and found that the liquid is 70 percent alcohol (140 proof) and 0 percent hallucination.

"All things considered, nothing besides ethanol was found in the absinthes that was able to explain the syndrome 'absinthism'," the researchers wrote in an open-access paper in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Absinthe, widely known as the 'Green Fairy' was banned across Europe in the early 20th century after it became the purported cause of absinthism, the symptoms of which included hallucinations, tremors and convulsions. It turns out that absinthism was probably just alcoholism.

Absinthe so scared the responsible adults of the world that only in the last few years was the substance allowed back onto the market. But when people failed to report excellent trips, arguments sprung up about whether or not the new absinthe was chemically equivalent to the old stuff.

The researchers took a systematic look at 13 samples of pre-ban absinthe and measured their levels of thujone, the active chemical component in the drink's famed wormwood. They found them to be no higher than today's licorice-tasting brew.

“Today it seems a substantial minority of consumers want these myths to be true, even if there is no empirical evidence that they are,” said the study's lead author Dirk Lachenmeier in a release. “It is hoped that this paper will go some way to refute at least the first of these myths, conclusively demonstrating that the thujone content of a representative selection of pre-ban absinthe... fell within the modern EU limit.”

UPDATE: In the comments, Herbal Ed brings up a good point, saying "It sounds like they're not considering that thujone from the wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) has probably broken down in to other components." I should have included this tidbit from the latter half of the paper in which the authors say they "have not found any evidentiary or investigative support for ... the proposition that thujone content changes in bottle, as a result of aging or other environmental factors."

Image: Courtesy of Dirk Lachenmeier, showing the implements of their absinthe sampling process, including a vintage bottle of Pernod Fils, a popular pre-ban absinthe brand.

See Also: A fantastic Wired article -- "The Mystery of the Green Menace" -- on Ted Breaux, one of Lachenmeier's collaborators for the most recent study.


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I was reading a street tabloid the other day and I saw an ad for a bar that claims to serve absinthe, (green fairy). I live in CA and I thought it was illegal in the states because of the thujone content. So is it hard liquor with green food coloring or could it be the real deal?
 
^Low thujone content absinthe is now legal in the states. If you want high thujone content, you're on your own.
 
i think absinthe hallucinations are a load of bullshit. I gotta get me some placebos
 
No kidding. Maybe people did experience hallucinations from insanely high levels of thujone. If they did, it would have been from seizures or the gaba antagonism resulting in ethanol withdrawal.
 
The placebo effect is grand. I've had absinthe in Europe (so it was "real") and it was nice. But then again, an expensive bottle of Whiskey would also have been nice.
 
I've had the stronger stuff - it's a nice buzz, feels a little different from other booze to me, almost more like pot?
But the taste is nasty. Black jelly beans. Ew.
 
I happen to like licorice.

Also, I've had both "low"-thujone and "high"-thujone (from France) Absinth, and was unable to discern the two.
 
I like absinthe (the only kind I've had was while in Europe, although I hear that this doesn't really mean much because each country has a different idea of what absinthe is). Not sure what the thujone content is, but I love the stuff - it's strong as hell and makes me a ridiculous drunk - i.e. pretending to be Ari Gold for a whole night. It tastes great and it burns like hell going down, in what is quite possibly the only instance of this i've ever found pleasurable. I can drink a bottle of it and it just makes me more and more excited. I'll stop by the store tomorrow and take a picture of the kind I drink to post.
 
BULLSHIT!

Absinthe has caused me to see pink elephants sitting on the living room couch. :p
 
"I was in Ireland. I got to drink absinthe in Ireland. Absinthe is a liquor that they outlaw. It's supposed to make you trip hallucinogenically. So I got excited because I like to hallucinate. So I started drinking lots of shots of it. But really it's just a liquor, so really I was just getting fucked up. I wasn't even remotely tripping. After 10 shots, I fell to the ground. I was trying to force the trip. "Why is the floor as low as I can go?" I was just faking it, you know."


~ Mitch Hedberg
 
yea theres a hell of a lot of hype about absintha nd the "green fairy", there was a few history channel programs about it and everything
its no doubt an over-hyped load of bs, i mean its a nice liquor and i love the way its served but no hallucinations (sp)
 
I suppose one could always put mushrooms in their absinthe, though it would likely no longer be "traditional"...
 
forget green fairy. if you want a neat liquor, get a bottle of everclear and a zip of dank. combine and store in a dark cool place. a month or two later you will have a bottle of green dragon. neat.

tobala said:
I suppose one could always put mushrooms in their absinthe, though it would likely no longer be "traditional"...
and then drink it?!
 
hydroazuanacaine said:
forget green fairy. if you want a neat liquor, get a bottle of everclear and a zip of dank. combine and store in a dark cool place. a month or two later you will have a bottle of green dragon. neat.
and then drink it?! :D
 
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