a lot of the biggest fans of absinthe also did a lot of other stuff that was newly introduced from other countries- opium as just the black stuff etc from the oriental immigrants, or as morphine and later heroin from their doctors looking for new medicines (remember, ether for surgeries was a new thing, so pain killers in general were much sought after) marijuana from Indian emissaries...etc. so really, if you combined all that stuff in a night... I think Absinthe would be the least of your worries, but all of those things happen to be illegal (still). I just think it's amusing that it's taking so long for the 'states to *finally* be okay with absinthe. "Watch out! We'll all turn Victorian on you!" Our artist will go nuts! Count on it!"