Posted by Quintal on June 9, 2007, at 20:10:40
In reply to Re: Absinthe - Dancing With The Green Fairy » Quintal, posted by Honore on June 9, 2007, at 1:30:36
I've just re-read your post Honore. It seems you were saying that modern Absinthes have less thujone than the original? The reverse seems to be true - according to the Wiki article on thujone the highest concentration found in a vintage Absinthe was 6mg/l. Most modern Absinthes contain at least 10mg/l and some as much as 35mg/l. Also the Wiki article seems to imply that thujone does not cause hallucinations because it acts on GABA receptors. One of the active ingredients in Amantia Muscarina 'magic mushrooms' called muscimol is a potent GABA-A receptor agonist and definitely causes hallucinations. Obviously thujone is an antagonist while muscimol is an agonist, but it seems likely that thujone is capable of having some psychoactive effect, especially when combined with alcohol and other substances. It would be interesting to know the pharmacology of alkaloids in the other herbs used to flavour Absinthe.
I sometimes feel the debunkers (as is often the case) are a little overzealous.
Q
poster:Quintal
thread:761767
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070604/msgs/762057.html