# Is Absinthe the new Kazaa? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 19, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963 "2006-03-19T03:12:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/1 "2006-03-19T03:12:12Z")
> **[Where is it legal to buy Absinthe?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=363471)** > > I have a friend about to do some travelling (Europe mostly I think) and he has made it his duty to buy me some absinthe. Where should I send him? > [@camclem](#): > > Since the OP has been answered… 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? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/2 "2006-03-19T03:17:31Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/3 "2006-03-19T03:17:58Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/4 "2006-03-19T03:18:42Z")
Read the linked Wikipedia article more fully. 😉 It covers the legality of importing it to the United States. (It isn’t legal.) ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/5 "2006-03-19T03:22:50Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/6 "2006-03-19T03:26:51Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/7 "2006-03-19T03:39:09Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/8 "2006-03-19T03:41:53Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/9 "2006-03-19T04:00:32Z")
> [@Revenant Threshold](#): > > I didn’t realise pre-emptive closings were the rule here. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/10 "2006-03-19T12:12:28Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > We’ve done the absinthe bit to death here. It comes up every year. We are conspicuous by our absinthe. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/11 "2006-03-19T14:18:34Z")
Does absinthe really make the heart grow fonder?? ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/12 "2006-03-19T20:02:00Z")
the absinthe of evidence is not the evidence of absinthe ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/13 "2006-03-19T23:41:46Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > We are conspicuous by our absinthe. Don’t you mean conthpicuouth? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/14 "2006-03-21T23:54:22Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Does absinthe really make the heart grow fonder?? No, but it does make the Fonz grow harder. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/15 "2006-03-22T01:30:27Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-absinthe-the-new-kazaa/348963/16 "2006-03-22T01:59:37Z")
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.