Absinthe on the Way!

So much happening for absinthe! Lull in posting notwithstanding, more is on the way, but I'll premention:

• Mansinthe,
• Oxy's recent publication: "Systematic Misinformation about Thujone in Pre-ban Absinthe",
• press...,

But for now, "Tree That Owns Itself" (wiki)!

"Absinthism" debunked

From an Italian addiction blog comes news of a study finding no detremental health effects from absinthe drinking other than those encountered in common alcoholism. The study will be published in Bio Med Central and was led by Stephan A Padosch (Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg), Dirk W Lachenmeier (Chemisches und Veterinäruntersuchungsamt CVUA Karlsruhe) and Lars U Kroener (Institut für Rechtsmedizin der Universität zu Köln). Say that ten times fast.

From the blog (not the report):

Based on the current available evidence, thujone concentrations of both pre-ban and modern absinthes may not have been able to cause detrimental health effects other than those encountered in common alcoholism.

Today, a questionable tendency of absinthe manufacturers can be ascertained that use the ancient theories of absinthism as a targeted marketing strategy to bring absinthe into the spheres of a legal drug-of-abuse. Misleading advertisements of aphrodisiac or psychotropic effects of absinthe try to re-establish absinthes former reputation.

Thujone study

"alpha-Thujone (the active component of absinthe): gamma-Aminobutyric acid type A receptor modulation and metabolic detoxification" (April 2000)