Absinth Bar, Prague 1 – legally drinking absinthe
Police responded to Posada San Pedro Residence Hall, 601 N. Highland Ave., at 1:14 a.m. Monday after a resident assistant reported hearing a loud noise from a room. When the RA investigated, she heard bottles clinking and someone say, “Let’s take another shot,” according to reports. Police knocked on the door and were let in by two male students. Police saw two empty bottles of absinthe, and the students’ eyes were bloodshot.
The students said they did not know that absinthe was illegal in the United States. They were diverted to the Dean of Students Office.
Source: University of Arizona Police Department
The report doesn’t say whether the cops checked the thujone level of the absinthe – to see whether it was illegal or not. Perhaps the police should consider carrying mobile thujone testing kits? or a handy list of thujone free (USA safe) absinthe brands, like Lucid and Absente, to ensure they don’t make any mistakes. “Hey…this tests within the 0 -10 milligrame thujone range prescribed by the TTB as being “thujone free”…it’s legal, officer!”
“According to the FDA, alcoholic beverages must be thujone-free pursuant to 21 CFR 172.510″ Source
L' Absinthe Rend Fou 
“The students said they did not know that absinthe was illegal in the United States.”
I’d bet they were being sarcastic. Why not? They were probably already in a whole lot of trouble for being underage and drinking in dry dormitory.
Probably no older than those boys in your photo drinking at The Absinth bar.
To correct the report, absinthe isn’t illegal (although many get that confused), it’s only banned from being imported.
And yes, if they weren’t drinking something approved for US sale, the old regs still appear to apply (although an expensive lawyer could probably fight them).
Well, you are the expert there. I would assume that they were responding to a challenge about their absinthe by the campus cops. That is a strange idea for me – a police unit on a university campus.
😀
But legal to buy and possess for personal consumption I think – as confusing as the new <10mg = no thujone.. because it tests negative law.
Comments from m’learned friend are welcome…
“I’d bet they were being sarcastic.”
Yes. College kids caught drinking always resort to sarcasm like “I didn’t know it was illegal!” instead of say…”real sarcasm”–like mine right now (college taught me well).
“They were probably already in a whole lot of trouble for being underage…”
Well, for starters, booze is easier to find on a dry campus than water in the ocean, so aside from getting slapped on the wrist I doubt much would happen–let alone get press. Drinking absinthe on a dry campus, however, makes this very newsworthy.
“absinthe isn’t illegal (although many get that confused), it’s only banned from being imported.”
Unless, of course, it has “no thujone”. In which case you can import your “absinthe” all you want.
“That is a strange idea for me – a police unit on a university campus.”
Every major university has its own police department. How do you not know that?
“Well, for starters, booze is easier to find on a dry campus than water in the ocean, so aside from getting slapped on the wrist I doubt much would happen–let alone get press. ”
Leif, do you have a lot of experience with this? I studied on a dry campus during my college career, and I can tell you, it was taken VERY seriously. Many times, students caught drinking in the dorms lost their dorm priviledges and had to find their own off campus housing. Not to mention the fines and potential suspensions.
“Drinking absinthe on a dry campus, however, makes this very newsworthy.”
This isn’t even news. This was taken from a police report, as the source mentions. Everything that police are called to is reported. Read any university newspaper and you’ll find dozens of reports of police activity. I went to a very small school (approx 3,000-4,000 students) and that’s what I saw. I can only imagine how many reports are contained in large university newspapers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnocentrism
Gimme a break. I’m the LAST person someone could call ethnocentric. The reason I made that comment is because you seem to take SUCH an interest in everything that’s going on here, and you scour the internet for so much information about our dealings (including the referenced police article), that one would assume you would do a simple internet search to find that out.
Maybe I give you too much credit. 😉
Touchy fella, ‘aint ya? Like an unexploded bomb from World War II…you never know when it might go off.
I might have been commenting on my own ethnocentrcity – we had porters, not police, in my day. The fact that I find police on campus a “strange idea fro me” is a comment on the depressing reality of our modern world.
Buddy, believe me, you couldn’t make me go off no matter what you say or do. It’s an internet forum. I would recommend that anyone who get’s that flustered online should get a life. 😉
I’m not really sure how you could even construe my post as me being touchy.
Regarding police on campus, it actually is a smart thing. With some campuses here in the states topping 30,000-40,000 students, it’s less stress on the municpality if it deals with (and funds) its own force.
Is there a lot of crime on US campuses? or is it a “feel safe” issue? I am guessing the latter. I strongly dislike the idea of police entering a student room because they were drinking – doesn’t seem right.
I recall that we were threatened with being rusticated if we got up to no good…and that meant plagiarism.. not armed robbery on the college bar in masks or anything.
As for getting drunk – nearly everyone did that, not a reason for the police to turn up in my opinion.
Well, remember, here in the states, it’s illegal to drink before age 21. Some campuses are dry for all ages.
Normally, people go unpunished for drinking, but if they are making spectacles of themselves, cauusing trouble, or are blatantly obvious, then the police have no choice but to punish them.
Regarding safety, most college campuses are extremely safe. Very little crime at all, even petty thefts and such. However, you must keep in mind that police are not only there to take care of those issues, but also to enforce traffic and parking control, medical emergencies, etc etc.
You also need to realize that the US is horribly puritanical regarding alcohol. They really feel the need to enforce those anti-underage drinking laws.
I personally feel we should fall in line with most European countries and their drinking laws. I feel that we would have less of a problem here in the states with alcohol abuse if it weren’t treated like some Orwellian state behavior control issue. We all know that when youngsters are told that they can’t do something, it’s the first thing they’ll try to do when you turn your back!
“Leif, do you have a lot of experience with this? I studied on a dry campus during my college career, and I can tell you, it was taken VERY seriously. ”
Having gone to to two separate “dry” campuses for my degrees…yes.
“Many times, students caught drinking in the dorms lost their dorm priviledges and had to find their own off campus housing. Not to mention the fines and potential suspensions.”
You buy your ticket, you take your chance.
“This isn’t even news. This was taken from a police report, as the source mentions.”
If it makes the blotter…it’s news. Sorry.
“You also need to realize that the US is horribly puritanical regarding alcohol. ”
Wait, which United States are we talking about here?
Your United States, where parents who serve beer at a party within the confines of their own home, at which their children are present and invited, if not even overtly chaperoned during the procedings may be arrested for contributing to the delinquincy of minors, if not worse. There is very little leeway given for trying to educate safe, sensible, social drinking in the United States of America.
Sort of. It should be noted that the states control liquor laws and they can vary greatly. Take California, underage purchase and possession are generally illegal (although exceptions are made for parents giving alcohol to children, within a reasonable amount, or religious reasons) but consumption isn’t.
Which State has the most draconian laws? Just curious..
“You buy your ticket, you take your chance.”
What does that have to do with anything? You just made my point for me. Dry campuses enforce their no-alcohol policy. Thanks. 🙂
“If it makes the blotter…it’s news. Sorry.”
Did you even see the page where the story was from? It was from the police website. It also listed on that same day a stolen purse, and a man arrested for urinating in public. Do you really call that information ‘newsworthy’, or are you just nitpicking to be difficult?
I would say Pennsylvania is up there among the worst. I lived in PA for 20 years or so. Extremely tight laws. You can even get ticketed for crossing state lines with alcohol.
It’s almost impossible to order any alcohol online if you live in PA as well.
What is the main factor at play – “nanny state” social order issues, religion, or something else?
You know, that’s a good question. I think it originally stemmed from religious conservativism. Now, I just think they want to control it as much as possible so that they can make sure to claim their piece of the proverbial pie.
I’d agree that it’s religion to a certain degree and social order to another.
No one around here (mid-Illinois) seems to much care about drinking (teenage drinking especially), etc.–until some kids wrap themselves around a tree–then the uprising occurs. How could this happen! Then all sorts of laws get proposed, voted on, changed, etc. and we end up no better off just left feeling “safer”.
Anywho…
I’m responding to this because I think we’re on the same page…but for some reason not:
“‘You buy your ticket, you take your chance.’
What does that have to do with anything? You just made my point for me. Dry campuses enforce their no-alcohol policy. Thanks. 🙂 ”
So by me agreeing with you I agree with you? The point of my comment is… bought the ticket they the ride. I wasn’t trying to make issue with kids getting in trouble for breaking the rules.
“Do you really call that information ‘newsworthy’, or are you just nitpicking to be difficult?”
Obviously, “newsworthy” is subjective. For example, the shootings in Virginia are obviously a bit more newsworthy than this, however, defining “newsworthy” is moot here.
Most every paper has a blotter page (ie. pages that list comes in the newspaper). More crimes are committed than can be reported. So the select few that get put in are “newsworthy” to some degree.
With that said, even if this did not get in the paper it made a blog that happens to be about the Wonderful World of Absinthe (WWA). Given the context in which it was presented…it’d still be “newsworthy”.
I think it was more of a misunderstanding. In the beginning, it seemed as though you were saying that kids wouldn’t really get punished for drinking. I was just drying to clarify that in many places, they DO get in trouble. You agreeing with that statement surprised me, because I thought you were on the sother side of the coin.
Well, at least we agree on something! But, isn’t that some kind of sign of the appocolypse? Absinth and Absinthe drinkers AGREEING on something?!?!? OK, where’s the fire and brimstone!?!? 😉
It’s the Apolcalypse clearly:
http://www.takimag.com/site/article/absinthe_and_the_apocalypse/
Grab a glass and your favourite Psalm and go hide under the stairs.