The condition of absinthism was introduced into late 19th century medicine together with the first emerging descriptions of alcoholism [37]. Intriguingly, this fact could hold the key for the solution of the debate about whether absinthism was a clinical pattern of its own and how it should be distinguished from chronic alcoholism. As mentioned previously, due to the low solubility of etheric oils, absinthe usually contains high concentrations of ethanol, which means that there was no ingestion of thujone without ingestion of remarkably high quantities of ethanol.

Recently, in an editorial, Strang et al. raised the question of "absinthe: what's your poison?"[56]. To us, however, the question is really what happened to the symptoms of absinthism after its prohibition. Did this mysterious syndrome disappear abruptly or did these symptoms simply continue to exist among chronic alcohol abusers under the name of alcoholism, which seems to be more tolerated by society? Finally, as with so many facets of the green fairy, this issue remains controversial and perhaps will never be solved.