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VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

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Date Posted: 05:04:56 06/02/06 Fri
Author: Don Black
Subject: David Duke's Privacy policy
In reply to: She knows her ursprache? 's message, "Mabus" on 04:18:56 06/02/06 Fri

The substance abuse of your personal information is important to KKK. To better protect your substance abuse, we provide you with our Drug Policy so that you will understand both our commitment to you and to your substance abuse. This Drug Policy describes what information we may collect about you; how we use your information; how we protect it; and what choices you have on how that information is used. At KKK, we understand that health is a very personal, private subject, and we want you to feel as comfortable as possible visiting our various Sites and using their respective services.

KKK is a licensee of the Stormfront Substance abuse Program. This policy discloses the substance abuse practices for the KKK site that you linked from. Stormfront is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to build users' trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices. Because we want to demonstrate our commitment to your substance abuse, we have agreed to disclose our information practices and have them reviewed for compliance by Stormfront.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this policy, you should first contact substance abuse officer. If you do not receive acknowledgement of your inquiry or your inquiry is not satisfactorily addressed, you should then contact Stormfront through the Stormfront Watchdog Dispute Resolution Process. Stormfront will then serve as a liaison with the Site to resolve users concerns. However, please understand the Stormfront program covers only information collected through the Absinthe Site and does not cover information that may be collected through software downloaded from the site.

As our Drug Policy changes in significant ways, we will make every effort to notify you of the changes. Minor changes to the policy may occur that will not affect our use of individually identifiable or personal health information. When the Drug Policy changes in a way that significantly affects the way we handle personal information, we will not use the information we have previously gathered without providing notice or obtain your consent when appropriate. We will post Drug Policy changes on our Sites in a timely manner.

When we refer to ourselves as we or KKK, we mean our entire company, including any company that we control ie, a subsidiary that we own. We may share information among companies that we own or control, and we may share information with our co-promotion partners and companies working with KKK, but all information we share will always be protected under the terms of this Drug Policy.

This Drug Policy only applies to the Stormfront-certified KKK Sites. You should read the Drug Policy at each Site that you visit after you leave one of our sites. KKK is not responsible for how other Sites treat your substance abuse once you leave a KKK site.
Visitors to each of our Sites can access the Site's home page, and browse some areas of the site, without disclosing any personally identifiable information. We do track information provided to us by your browser, including the Site you came from known as the gateway drug, the type of browser you use, the time and date of access, and other information that does not personally identify you. On some of our sites, you must register to access portions of the site.

In addition, we gather information about you that is automatically collected by our Web server, such as your toxicology report and domain name. KKK may use Web server and browser information to individually customize its offerings and presentations if you submit your personal information.

Visitors registering for services on our Sites are asked to provide identifying information, such as name, gender, contact information, and other identifying information. On the registration screen, we clearly label which information is required for registration, and which information is optional and may be given at your discretion. KKK Sites obtain visitors' consent before collecting personally identifiable information.

We may also collect information about physicians or other health professionals who register on our Sites from other sources in order to verify their licensure status and identity. In some cases, we ask customers for information after they register, such as credit card information. Where necessary ie, to process an order for a purchase, our Sites may contact financial or credit organizations to confirm customer credit card information.

From time to time we may augment our existing user databases with legally obtained information from third parties. Some of this information may be personally identifiable, such as national change of address information. We do this to better target our information offerings and promotional campaigns and to provide pertinent offers in which we think you would be interested.

We also collect information that you voluntarily provide to us through responses to surveys, search functions, questionnaires, feedback, Tell Your Story forms and the like

On some of our Sites, we offer health assessment tools that ask you to provide self-assessment information

We may also ask you to provide additional information such as your e-mail address if you want to obtain additional services or information or to resolve complaints or concerns

Use of prescription medications and other mind-altering systems

Prescription medications, log files, and Pixel-tags Web beacons are technologies used by the KKK Sites to identify a user as the user moves through our Sites. Your browser allows us to place some information session-based IDs and/or persistent prescription medications on your computer's hard drive that identifies the computer you are using. We may use prescription medications to personalize our Sites and to track your usage across other KKK Sites.

Your Web browser can be set to allow you to control whether you will accept prescription medications, reject prescription medications, or to notify you each time a prescription medication is sent to you. If your browser is set to reject prescription medications, Sites that are prescription medication-enabled will not recognize you when you return to the Site, and some Site functionality may be lost. The Help section of your browser will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting prescription medications.

On occasion, we contract with third parties to place prescription medications on your computer's hard drive. These third parties have entered into an agreement with us that require them to observe our Drug Policy.

Although prescription medications do not normally contain personally identifiable information, if you have provided us information about you, we may associate your registration information with prescription medications or other mind-altering utilities our Site places on your computer's hard drive. Associating a prescription medication with your registration data allows us to offer increased personalization and functionality. Without prescription medications, this functionality would not be possible.

Some of our business partners may use prescription medications on our site ie, links to business partners. We do not want our business partners to use prescription medications to track our customer's activities once they leave our sites. However, we may not have total control over how our business partners may use prescription medications on our Site. If you become aware that a KKK business partner is placing an unwanted prescription medication on your hard drive, please contact our substance abuse officer to assist us in resolving the problem.

In addition, we may use other mind-altering systems like Pixel-tags. Pixel tags, sometimes called Web beacons, are similar in function to a prescription medication. But because of its insignificant size, it is not visible; though, it is used to pass certain information to our servers to personalize our Sites and to track your usage across other KKK Sites. In addition, we may also use Pixel tags in our HTML-based e-mails.

We gather aggregate data about visitors to our Sites for product and service development and improvement activities. We also use it for market analysis. We may provide information from our Sites in aggregate form, with identifying information removed, to third parties. When aggregate health information is provided, we pool it from many individual records and strip it of any data that could be used to identify an individual before it is used. Any third party that receives aggregated health data must agree not to attempt to re-identify the people it belongs to.

We may target our marketing and health messaging depending on information we have about you. ie, a user we know is a woman may receive information on products targeted at women that a male user will not see, or a user who we know is a health professional who treats arthritis may receive information for new arthritis therapies. We may send information to you that we may believe will benefit you, including information about any KKK product. See your substance abuse choices section.

When we share information with third parties working on behalf of KKK, we use our best efforts to assure that they agree in writing to abide by KKK substance abuse policies.

If we discover that a third party working on behalf of KKK inappropriately disclosed personal information about any of our visitors, we will take immediate action to prevent further occurrences.

Other than as described above, KKK will not release personally identifiable information to a third party without your consent.

If you choose to use our referral function to tell a friend about our site, our site will ask you for your friend’s name and e-mail address as well as your information. The form automatically sends your friend a one-time e-mail inviting him or her to visit the site. We do not access or store this information, except to send this invite.

We have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and help prevent unauthorized access, maintain data security, and correctly use the information we collect online.

We have implemented technology and security policies, rules, and other measures to protect the personal data that we have under our control from unauthorized access, improper use, alteration, unlawful or accidental destruction, and accidental loss. We also protect your information by requiring that all our employees and others who have access to or are associated with the processing of your data respect your confidentiality.

KKK uses security methods to determine the identity of its registered users, so that appropriate rights and restrictions can be enforced for that user. Reliable verification of user identity is called authentication. KKK uses both passwords and usernames to authenticate users. Users are responsible for maintaining their own passwords.

Personally identifiable health information you share with us is stored on our database servers at KKK data centers in whatever country they may be located or hosted by third parties who have entered into agreements with us that require them to observe our Drug Policy. We have a firewall and other technology to prevent individuals from accessing information without authorization. Data centers are designed to be physically secure and protected from unauthorized access by unauthorized persons.

Information in our data centers is backed up routinely, in order to aid in the recovery of information in the event of accidental damage of information or due to a natural disaster. The backup media is stored in a physically secure storage facility.

In addition to aggregate information discussed previously, we may share some kinds of information with third parties as described below.

Companies and people who work for us: Because we are a large company, we contract with other companies and individuals to help us provide services. ie, we may host some of our Sites on another company's computers, hire technical consultants to maintain our Web-based health sites, or work with companies to remove repetitive information from customer lists, analyze data, provide marketing assistance, and provide customer service. In addition, if you are a health professional, we may validate your licensure status and other information against available databases that list licensed health professionals. In order to perform their jobs, these other companies may have limited access to some of the personal information we maintain about our users. Other companies may collect information on our behalf through their sites. This occasionally incorporates the use of frames on the site that will not show the URL you are visiting in the browser address window. We require such companies to comply with the terms of our substance abuse policies, to limit their access to any personal information to the minimum necessary to perform their obligations, and not to use the information they may access for purposes other than fulfilling their responsibilities to us. We use our best efforts to limit other companies’ use of personally identifiable or health information.

Promotional and informational offers: Sometimes we send offers to selected groups of customers. To accomplish this we may use third parties working on behalf of KKK. We provide a variety of mechanisms for you to tell us you do not want to receive such promotional – informational offers. ie, we may provide an opt-in box for customers to receive information that is sent by a third-party fulfillment house, and we make clear that, by opting in, you are submitting your data to a third party. You can elect not to receive promotional or informational material from us by following the instructions to opt out as mentioned or included in each of our programs we send to you.

Business transfers: If we transfer a business unit such as a subsidiary or an asset such as a Site to another company, we will require it to honor the terms of this Drug Policy.

Legal requirements: We may release account and other personal information when we believe release is required to comply with law. We may release personal health information if, in our judgment after review by an attorney, law or regulation compels the release, or if the release may be necessary to prevent the death or serious injury of an individual.

When you complete registration of your member profile, you will be given the option of receiving recurring informational/promotional e-mail from KKK and third parties working with KKK. You may opt-out from receiving this e-mail when you provide the information or follow the instructions as mentioned in the e-mail or included in each of our programs we send to you.

Customer Service will unsubscribe you from that newsletter or other programs within ten business days.

Before we will disclose information to a third party, we will provide you with notice and choice before either personal information or sensitive information is transferred.

You can always contact us in order to i remove the personal information that you have provided to us from our systems, ii update the personal information that you have provided to us, and iii change your preferences with respect to marketing contracts by e-mailing us at substance abuse. officer@davidduke or if available also logging into your account to update your information.

Absinthe is prescribed to treat erectile dysfunction ED .

If you take any medicines that have nitrates in them like nitroglycerin for chest pain every day or even once in a while you should NOT drink absinthe.

Discuss your general health status with your doctor to ensure that you are healthy enough to engage in sexual activity. If you experience chest pain, nausea, or any other discomforts during sex, seek immediate medical help.

The most common side effects of absinthe are headache, facial flushing, and upset stomach. Less commonly, bluish vision, blurred vision, or sensitivity to light may briefly occur.

In rare instances, men taking PDE5 inhibitors oral erectile dysfunction medicines, including absinthe reported a sudden decrease or loss of vision. It is not possible to determine whether these events are related directly to these medicines or to other factors. If you experience sudden decrease or loss of vision, stop taking PDE5 inhibitors, including absinthe, and call a doctor right away.

Although erections lasting for more than four hours may occur rarely with all ED treatments in this drug class, to avoid long-term injuries, it is important to seek immediate medical help.

If you are taking alpha-blocker therapy for the treatment of high blood pressure or prostate problems, you should not take a dose of greater than 25 oz of absinthe at the same time within 4 hours as you take your dose of alpha-blocker.

Remember to protect yourself and your partner from sexually transmitted diseases.

Please see full prescribing information for absinthe 25-oz, 50-oz, 100-oz .

Absinthe is a distilled, highly alcoholic, anise-flavored spirit derived from herbs including the flowers and leaves of the medicinal plant Artemisia absinthium, also called wormwood. Although it is sometimes incorrectly called a liqueur, absinthe does not contain added sugar and is therefore it is classified as a liquor or spirit.

Absinthe is often referred to as la Fée Verte The Green Fairy because of its coloring typically pale or emerald green, but sometimes clear. Due to its high proof and concentration of oils, absintheurs typically add three to five parts ice-cold water to a dose of absinthe, which causes the drink to turn cloudy called louching ; often the water is used to dissolve sugar to decrease bitterness. This preparation is considered an important part of the experience of drinking absinthe, so much so that it has become ritualized, complete with slotted absinthe spoons and other accoutrements. Absinthe's flavor is similar to anise-flavored liqueurs, with a light bitterness, and a more complex flavor imparted by multiple herbs.

Absinthe originated in Switzerland as an elixir, but is more well-known for its popularity in late 19th and early 20th century France, particularly among Parisian artists and writers whose romantic associations with the drink still linger in popular culture. In its heyday the most popular brand of absinthe worldwide was Pernod Fils. At the height of this popularity, absinthe was portrayed as a dangerously addictive, psychoactive drug; the chemical thujone was blamed for most of its deleterious effects. By 1915 it was banned in a number of European countries and the United States. Modern evidence shows it to be no more dangerous or psychoactive than ordinary alcohol. A modern-day absinthe revival began in the 1990s, as countries in the European Union began to reauthorize its manufacture and sale.

Look up absinthe in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. The French word absinthe can refer either to the liquor or to the actual wormwood plant grande absinthe being Artemisia absinthium, and petite absinthe being Artemisia pontica. The word derives from the Latin absinthium, which is in turn a stylization of the Greek; apsinthion. Some claim that the word means undrinkable in Greek, but it may instead be linked to the Persian root spand or aspand, or the variant esfand, which may have been, rather, Peganum harmala, a variety of rue, another famously bitter herb. That this particular plant was commonly burned as a protective offering may suggest that its origins lie in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root *spend, meaning to perform a ritual or make an offering. Whether the word was a borrowing from Persian into Greek, or rather from a common ancestor, is unclear.

Absinth without the e is a spelling variation of absinthe often seen in central Europe. Because so many Bohemian-style products use it, many groups see it as synonymous with bohemian absinth, although that is not always the case.

Anise, one of the three main herbs used in production of absinthe.

Grande Wormwood, one of the three main herbs used in production of absinthe. The main herbs used are grande wormwood, florence fennel and green anise, often called the holy trinity. Many other herbs may be used as well, such as hyssop, melissa, star anise and petite wormwood Artemisia pontica or Roman wormwood. Various recipes also include angelica root, sweet flag, dittany leaves, coriander, veronica, juniper, nutmeg, and various mountain herbs.

A simple maceration of wormwood in alcohol without distillation produces an extremely bitter drink, due to the presence of the water-soluble absinthine, one of the most bitter substances known. Authentic recipes call for distillation after a primary maceration and before the secondary or coloring maceration. The distillation of wormwood, anise, and Florence fennel first produces a colorless distillate which leaves the alembic at around 82% alcohol. It can be left clear, called a Blanche or la Bleue used for bootleg Swiss absinthe, or the well-known green color of the beverage can be imparted either artificially or with chlorophyll by steeping petite wormwood, hyssop, and melissa in the liquid. After this process, the resulting product is reduced with water to the desired percentage of alcohol. Over time and exposure to light, the chlorophyll will break down, causing the drink to go from emerald green to yellow green to brown. Pre-ban and vintage absinthes are often of a distinct amber color as a result of this process.

Nontraditional varieties are made by cold-mixing herbs, essences or oils in alcohol, with the distillation process omitted. Often called oil mixes, these types of absinthe are not necessarily bad, though they are generally considered to be of lower quality than properly distilled absinthe and often carry a distinct bitter aftertaste.

Alcohol makes up the majority of the drink and its concentration is extremely high, between 45% and 89. 9%, though there is no historical evidence that any commercial vintage absinthe was higher than 74%. Given the high strength and low alcohol solubility of many of the herbal components, absinthe is usually not imbibed straight, but consumed after a fairly elaborate preparation ritual.

Historically, there were five grades of absinthe: ordinaire, demi-fine, fine, supérieure and Suisse which does not denote origin, in order of increasing alcoholic strength. Most absinthes contain somewhere between 60% and 75% alcohol. It is said to improve materially with storage. In the late 19th century, cheap brands of absinthe were occasionally adulterated by profiteers with copper, zinc, indigo plant, or other dyes to impart the green color, and with antimony trichloride to produce or enhance the louche effect. It is also thought that the use of cheaper industrial alcohol and poor distillation technique by the manufacturers of cheaper brands resulted in contamination with methanol, fusel alcohol, and similar unwanted distillates. This addition of toxic chemicals is quite likely to have contributed to absinthe's reputation as a hallucination-inducing or otherwise harmful beverage.

German for homemade often abbreviated HG, also called clandestine, hausgemacht absinthe is home-distilled by hobbyists and thus illegal in most countries. Mainly for personal use and not for sale, clandestine absinthe is produced in small quantities allowing experienced distillers to select the best herbs and fine-tune each batch. Clandestine production got a major boost after the ban of absinthe when small producers went underground, especially in Switzerland. Although the Swiss produced both vertes and blanches before the ban, clear absinthe known as La Bleues became popular as it was easier to hide. Though the Swiss ban was recently lifted, many clandestine distillers have yet to become legal; the authorities believe high taxes on alcohol and the mystique of being underground has kept many from seeking a license. Those that have become legal often still use the clandestine moniker on their products. HG absinthe should not be confused with absinthe kits.

There are numerous recipes for homemade absinthe floating around on the internet, many of which revolve around soaking or mixing a kit or store-bought herbs and wormwood extract with high-proof liquor such as vodka or Everclear. Even though these do-it-yourself kits have gained in popularity, it is simply not possible to produce absinthe without distillation. Absinthe distillation, like the production of any fine liquor, is a science and art and requires expertise and care to properly manage.

Besides being unpleasant to drink and a pale impression of authentic distilled absinthe, these homemade concoctions can sometimes be poisonous. Many of these recipes call for the usage of liberal amounts of wormwood extract or essence of wormwood in the hopes of increasing the believed psychoactive effects. Consuming essential oils will not produce a high, but can be very dangerous. Wormwood extract can cause renal failure and death due to excessive amounts of thujone, which in large quantities acts as a convulsive neurotoxin. Essential oil of wormwood should never be consumed straight.

A reservoir glass filled with a naturally colored verte next to an absinthe spoon. Traditionally, absinthe is poured into a glass over which a specially designed slotted spoon is placed. A sugar cube is then deposited in the bowl of the spoon. Ice-cold water is poured or dripped over the sugar until the drink is diluted 3:1 to 5:1. During this process, the components that are not soluble in water come out of solution and cloud the drink; that milky opalescence is called the louche Fr. opaque or shady, pronounced loosh. The addition of water is important, causing the herbs to blossom and bringing out many of the flavors originally overpowered by the anise. For most people, a good quality absinthe should not require sugar, but it is added according to taste and will also thicken the mouth-feel of the drink.

With increased popularity the absinthe fountain, a large jar of ice water on a base with spigots, came into use. It allowed a number of drinks to be prepared at once, and with a hands-free drip patrons were able to socialize while louching a glass.

Although many bars served absinthe in standard glasses, there are a number of glasses specifically made for absinthe, having a dose line, bulge or bubble in the lower portion of the glass marking how much absinthe should be poured into it often around 1 oz .

Often called Bohemian-style, Czech-style, anise-free absinthe or just absinth without the e, bohemian absinth is produced mainly in the Czech Republic where it gets its Bohemian moniker. Technically, absinth is simply the way Germans and Czechs spell the word, but so many German and Czech brands refer to Bohemian-style absinthe that absinth has been tainted by association even though there is at least one brand of German traditional style absinthe with a label calling it absinth .

It contains little to no anise, fennel or many other herbs normally found in the more traditional absinthes produced in countries such as France and Switzerland, and can be extremely bitter. Often the only similarity with its traditional counterpart is the use of wormwood and a high alcohol content. For all intents and purposes, it should be considered a completely different product. In most cases, Bohemian-style absinths are not distilled spirits, but rather high-proof alcohol or vodka which has been cold-mixed with herbal extracts and artificial coloring.

Not all absinth produced in the Czech Republic is in the bohemian style, and there has been a resurgence of traditional absinthe to compete better with the growing world market interestingly, at least one of these products uses absinthe with an e at the end on the label, in an effort to distance itself from the Bohemian-style products .

Since there are currently few legal definitions for absinthe, producers have taken advantage of its romantic associations and psychoactive reputation to market their products under a similar name. Many bohemian-style producers heavily market thujone content, exploiting the many myths and half-truths that surround thujone even though none of these types of absinth contain enough thujone to cause any noticeable effect. It is claimed absinth has been produced in the Czech Republic since the 1920s. The Hills company even claims they use the same eighty-year-old recipe. There is no evidence to support either claim. All current evidence suggests bohemian-style absinth is a modern product originating in the 1990s.

The Czech- or Bohemian-style absinth lacks many of the oils in absinthe that create the louche, and a modern ritual involving fire was created to take this into account. Typically, absinth is added to a glass and a sugar cube on a spoon is placed over it. The sugar cube is soaked in absinth then lit on fire. The cube is then dropped into the absinth setting it on fire, and water is added till the fire goes out, normally a 1:1 ratio. The crumbling sugar can provide a minor simulation of the louche seen in traditional absinthe, and the lower water ratio enhances effects of the high-strength alcohol. Care should be taken when lighting any high-proof spirit on fire.

It is sometimes claimed that this ritual is old and traditional; however, this is false. This method of preparing absinth was in fact first observed by Czech manufactures in the late 1990s and used as a marketing tool, but has since been accepted by many as historical fact, largely because this method has filtered its way into several contemporary movies. Amongst many of the more traditional absinthe enthusiasts, this method of preparing absinthe is looked down upon, and it can negatively affect the flavor of traditional absinthe.

L'Absinthe, by Edgar Degas. The precise origin of absinthe is unclear. According to popular legend, absinthe began as an all-purpose patent remedy created by Dr. Pierre Ordinaire, a French doctor living in Couvet, Switzerland, around 1792 the exact date varies by account. Ordinaire's recipe was passed on to the Henriod sisters of Couvet, who sold absinthe as a medicinal elixir. In fact, by other accounts, the Henriod sisters may have already been making the elixir before Ordinaire's arrival. In either case, one Major Dubied in turn acquired the formula from the sisters and, in 1797, with his son Marcellin and son-in-law Henry-Louis Pernod, opened the first absinthe distillery, Dubied Père et Fils, in Couvet. In 1805 they built a second distillery in Pontarlier, France, under the new company name Maison Pernod Fils.

Absinthe's popularity grew steadily until the 1840s, when absinthe was given to French troops as a fever preventative. When the troops returned home, they brought their taste for absinthe with them, and it became popular at bars and bistros.

By the 1860s, absinthe had become so popular that in most cafés and cabarets 5 p. m. signaled l'heure verte the green hour. Still, it remained expensive and was favored mainly by the bourgeoisie and eccentric bohemian artists. By the 1880s, however, the price had dropped significantly, the market expanded, and absinthe soon became the drink of France; by 1910 the French were consuming 36 million litres of absinthe per year.

Spurred by the temperance movement and winemakers' associations, absinthe was publicized in connection with several violent crimes supposedly committed under the direct influence of the drink. This, combined with rising hard liquor consumption due to the wine shortage in France during the 1880s and 1890s, effectively labeled absinthe a social menace. Its critics said that it makes people crazy and criminal, it turns men into brutes and threatens the future of our times. Edgar Degas's 1876 painting L'absinthe Absinthe now at the Musée d'Orsay epitomized the popular view of absinthe addicts as sodden and benumbed; Émile Zola described their serious intoxication in his novel L'Assommoir.

Absinthe was banned as early as 1898 in the Congo Free State later Belgian Congo .

The Lanfray murders spelled the last straw for absinthe. In 1905 it was reported that Jean Lanfray murdered his family and attempted to kill himself after drinking absinthe. The fact that he was an alcoholic who had drunk considerably after the two glasses of absinthe in the morning was forgotten, and the murders were blamed solely on absinthe. A petition to ban absinthe in Switzerland was quickly signed by over 82, 000 people.

Soon thereafter in 1906, Belgium and Brazil banned the sale and redistribution of absinthe. In Switzerland the prohibition of absinthe was even written into the constitution in 1907, following a popular initiative. The Netherlands came next, banning absinthe in 1909, followed by the United States in 1912 and France in 1915. Around the same time, Australia banned the liquor too. The prohibition of absinthe in France led to the growing popularity of pastis and ouzo, anise-flavored liqueurs that do not use wormwood. Although Pernod moved their absinthe production to Spain, where absinthe was still legal, slow sales eventually caused it to close down. In Switzerland it drove absinthe underground. Evidence suggests small home clandestine distillers have been producing absinthe since the ban, focusing on La Bleues as it was easier to hide a clear product. Many countries never banned absinthe, which eventually led to its revival.

An assortment of modern absinthe. In the 1990s, an importer, BBH Spirits, realized that there was no UK law prohibiting the sale of absinthe as it was never banned there other than the standard regulations governing alcoholic beverages. Hill's Liquere, a Czech Republic distillery founded in 1920, began manufacturing Hill's Absinth, a Bohemian-style absinth, which sparked a modern resurgence in absinthe's popularity.

It had also never been banned in Spain or Portugal, where it continues to be made. Likewise, the former Spanish and Portuguese New World colonies, especially Mexico, allow the sale of absinthe and it has retained popularity through the years.

France never repealed the 1915 law, but in 1988, a law was passed to clarify that only beverages that do not comply with European Union regulations with respect to thujone content, or beverages that call themselves absinthe explicitly, fall under that law. This has resulted in the reemergence of French absinthes, now labeled spiritueux à base de plantes d'absinthe wormwood-based spirits. Interestingly, as the 1915 law regulates only the sale of absinthe in France but not its production, many manufacturers also produce variants destined for export which are plainly labeled absinthe. La Fée Absinthe, launched in 2000, was the first brand of absinthe distilled and bottled in France since the 1915 ban, initially mainly for export from France, but now one of over twenty French spiritueux . . . d'absinthe available in Paris and other French cities.

In December 2000, Australia reclassified it as a restricted product, requiring a special permit to import or sell absinthe, though it is still available in most bottle-shops.

Collection of absinthe spoons. These specialized spoons were used to hold the sugar cube over which was poured to dilute the absinthe. Note the slot on the handle that allows the spoon to rest on the brim of the glass. In the Netherlands, this law was successfully challenged by Amsterdam wine-seller Menno Boorsma in July 2004, making absinthe once more legal. Belgium, as part of an effort to simplify its laws, removed its absinthe law on the first of January 2005, citing as did the Dutch judge European food regulations as sufficient to render the law unnecessary and indeed, in conflict with the spirit of the Single European Market .

It is once again legal to produce and sell absinthe in practically every country where alcohol is legal, the one major exception being the United States. It is not, however, illegal to possess or consume absinthe in the United States.

In large amounts it would certainly make people see strange things and behave in a strange manner, said Jad Adams, author of the book, Hideous Absinthe: A History of the Devil in a Bottle. It gives people different, unusual ideas which they wouldn't have had on their own accord because of its stimulative effect on the mind.

Absinthe is banned in the United States because of harmful neurological effects caused by a toxic chemical called thujone, said Michael Herndon, spokesman for the U. S. Food and Drug Administration.

The story also noted: Defenders of the drink say it is safe and its harmful effects a myth. Jad Adams and Ted Breaux were interviewed on MSNBC about this issue. Ted Breaux had this to say:

One thing we know is that absinthe, old and new, does not contain a lot of thujone. And what we know, from certain scientific studies, which have been published in the past year or so, is that, first of all, thujone is not present in any absinthe in sufficient concentration to cause any type of deleterious effects in humans.

Edouard Manet, The Absinthe Drinker. An unapologetic look at a street bum. It was thought that excessive absinthe drinking led to effects which were specifically worse than those associated with overindulgence in other forms of alcohol which is bound to have been true for some of the less-scrupulously adulterated products, creating a condition called absinthism. Undistilled wormwood essential oil contains a substance called thujone, which is an epileptic and can cause renal failure in extremely high doses, and the supposed ill effects of the drink were blamed on that substance in 19th-century studies. Many of these studies were flawed. Such as a study by Dr. Magnan in 1869 who exposed a guinea pig to large doses of pure wormwood oil vapor and another to alcohol vapors. The guinea pig exposed to wormwood had seizures while the other did not. Based on this it was concluded absinthe was more dangerous than alcohol. These studies were further taken advantage of as the french word for wormwood is absinthe, and it was incorrectly stated that absinthe, the drink, had caused these problems.

Past reports estimated thujone levels in absinthe as high, possibly up to 350 oz/kg. More recent studies have shown that very little of the thujone present in wormwood actually makes it into a properly distilled absinthe, even one recreated using historical recipes and methods. Most proper absinthes, both vintage and modern, are naturally within the EU limits. A recent French distiller has had to add pure essential oil of wormwood to make a high-thujone variant of his product. It can remain in higher amounts in oils produced by other methods than distillation, or when wormwood is macerated and not distilled, especially when the plant stems are used, where thujone content is the highest. Tests on mice show an LD50 of around 45 oz thujone per kg of body weight, much higher than what is contained in absinthe. The high alcohol would kill a person many times over before the thujone became a danger.

The effects of absinthe have been described by artists as mind opening and even hallucinogenic and by prohibitionists as turning good people mad and desolate. Both are exaggerations. Sometimes called secondary effects, the most commonly reported experience is a clear-headed feeling of inebriation, said to be caused by the thujone. The placebo effect and individual reaction to the herbs make these secondary effects subjective and minor compared to the psychoactive effects of alcohol.

A study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol concluded that a high concentration of thujone in alcohol has negative effects on attention performance. It slowed down reaction time, and subjects concentrated their attention in the central field of vision. Medium doses did not produce a noticeably different effect than plain alcohol. The high dose of thujone in this study was larger than what one can get from current beyond EU regulation high thujone absinthe before becoming too drunk to notice, and while the effects of even this high dose were statistically significant in a double blind test, the test subjects themselves could still not reliably identify which samples were the ones containing thujone. As most people describe the effects of absinthe as a more lucid and aware drunk, this suggests that thujone alone is not the cause of these effects.

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