No. It had been partially-answered. And the question was clearly acknowledging the illegality of absinthe in some jurisdictions. Would a thread asking ‘where is euthanasia legal’ get shut down just as quickly?
OK, before anybody else says it, I’ve reread that OP fully, and I realise there’s also the question of whether it’s legal to import it to America. But that hadn’t been answered fully, either.
I was considering pitting this, too. It seemed to me (and I apologise if this is a mischaracterisation) that samclem closed it on the chance that it would become a rule-breaking thread while he/she was asleep, and so unable to close it immediately. I didn’t realise pre-emptive closings were the rule here.
Read the linked Wikipedia article more fully. 
It covers the legality of importing it to the United States. (It isn’t legal.)
Ah, so it was closed for breaking a rule. That does seem more reasonable, but I suggest it might have been better for samclem to actually put the reason for the closing, lest the uneducated such as myself are confused. 
Usually with threads closed for asking advice on illegal behaviour the mod points out what that illegal behaviour is.
Oh, alright, I missed that entry in Wikipedia. But (a) aren’t we supposed to be a bit more rigorous than ‘Wikipedia says so’? and (b) as Rev says, closing a thread because it’s bedtime is a bit crappy, unless you explain the full rule-breaking reason at the same time.
Looks like the subject matter maybe better suited for a GD on why it’s illegal in the US. As far as where to have his friend get the absinthe, given his location, I can see the thread being closed as a legit concern.
Although, as we’ve seen in the past, the posted location isn’t the actual location. Remember the talk-down some received when we couldn’t figure out if a certain Doper was in Europe or the Middle East/Asia Minor?
Sorry. I’m old and tired. We’ve done the absinthe bit to death here. It comes up every year. You’re correct, I should have given a bit more explanation. When you’ve seen it so many times, you just cut to the chase. But I shouldn’t have, I guess.
I hope this thread has explained why I did what I did.
Not the rule, but certainly not unknown either. Some threads are just trouble waiting to happen. We have to use our experience and our judgement on them as to whether it is better to cut them off at the pass or let them go, knowing that we will later have to wade in and get our nice shiny jackboots all dirty.
The thread referred to, of course, was not a pre-emptive closing.
We are conspicuous by our absinthe.
Does absinthe really make the heart grow fonder??
the absinthe of evidence is not the evidence of absinthe
Don’t you mean conthpicuouth?
No, but it does make the Fonz grow harder.
Absinthe can be succesfully talked about on these boards. But the OP was specifically asking about doing something illegal (c.f. importing it into USA) so should have been shut down.
Would any mod/admin have a problem with a thread about where to get the best Absinthe in Europe?
So long as asking about where to get in in Europe involves countries that it’s legal in, I can’t imagine it would be a problem. IIRC, there have been a thread or three on finding good “coffee shops” in Amsterdam in the past. Of course, IANAM, but that’s waht I understand the difference to be.
YMMV, as always.