France was one of the main countries where absinthe originated from. Next to Switzerland, France was probably the largest distributor of absinthe. Absinthe was officially banned from France in 1915 though because of beliefs that consuming it could be very dangerous. The ban was not appealed right away.
Modification
In 1988, the ban was modified. The modification made it permitted that some types of absinthe could be sold in France legally but they cannot be actually sold under the name ‘absinthe’ though. The ruling was basically that the item cannot be packaged with the word absinthe on it in France. However, it was permitted for absinthe to be made with intentions to export it to a different country. With this in mind, the names have been modified slightly so that the laws are not broken. There was also a repeal of the law in the year 2001 and there was partial success. This is mostly to thank from the extensive research and studies that were done by Francois Guy (owner of Armand Guy) over many years.
The absinthe ban in 1915 was not a surprise for many people. There was a lot of heat that the green fairy was taking for being considered dangerous and a killer substance to consume. Many countries had banned drinking, producing, selling, and possessing absinthe a few years prior to France doing so as well. France pretty much just jumped onto the bandwagon to make sure that they were not supporting a dangerous product. |
