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I agree with most of your points, but just to clarify for everyone: Absinthe was definitely illegal for a while, 1908 Switzerland chose to vote in favor of an an Absinthe prohibition (in effect starting 1910), France followed 1914 or 1915. It has been widely available again since 1998 (2005 in Switzerland, respectively).

And absolutely, while the Thujone in wormwood oil might cause spasms in extremely high doses (in quantities not found in Absinthe), the behaviors observed are most likely simply caused by the high alcohol content, although consumers getting poisoned by copper sulfate and antimony (due to a shoddy production process) has also been listed as a potential cause, although that wouldn't explain the frequency and spread of behavior attributed to the Thujone content in Absinthe.