Mon, 2 Jan - Absinthe Forum: Left me yearning for more...

I just tried absinthe on New Year's Eve. I am a small person and don't drink very much. I had a couple of beers, sipped a shot of absinthe, and drank a couple of homemade Irish Creams over the period of about 6 hours. I was perfectly drunk. I will find out next time I try it if it was in fact the absinthe, but I had several spells of uncontrollable laughter to the point of tears streaming down my face to which nobody else in my presence participated in. It has been a very long time since I laughed like that and it was awesome! Also, I was outside at midnight watching some fireworks being lit off and it had just snowed a couple of inches of heavy, wet snow which is a beautiful combination anyhow, but it was so beautiful to me that I lingered outside to enjoy nature and the surroundings for a few minutes after everyone else went back inside. I felt awake and alert and content when I normally feel sleepy from alcohol. I also didn't really have a hangover yesterday. I have a very strong urge to try it again. The urge is scaring me. I have never felt this way before about any form of alcohol and have never been addicted or a regular user of any drugs or alcohol. I think I liked it too much.

'Meeting the Green Fairy' is a metaphor sometimes used to describe the curious effects of the green liquor.

About the effects of absinthe

When it comes to the effects of drinking absinthe, people's opinions -- and experiences -- vary wildly. Some go as far as to claim the drink is psychoactive, while others say there is no "secondary" (that is, other than alcohol-induced) effect at all.

As early as 1993, Matthew Baggott posted his Absinthe FAQ in the Usenet newsgroup "alt.drugs" (there wasn't much of the web as we know it back then). As you will suspect from the newsgroup's name, the issue of absinthe's "psychoactive qualities" was one of the interests of the document.

Some people take it further still. We definitely do not recommend any experiments with Paxil and absinthe (nor, for that matter, mixing any medicine with alcohol). Anyway, it's quite clear which way the wind blows here, since Jasmine Sailing's bizarre piece more or less concludes absinthe is a narcotic. Is it really? Yup, it does read like the girl was out of her mind when she wrote the page -- and no, we don't think the Fairy was to blame!

A far more sober look at the effects of the Green Fairy can be found in "The Return of the Green Faerie", an article written by Frank Kelly Rich of the Modern Drunkard magazine (no pun intended). Recommended reading.