The Swiss parliament will today consider legalizing absinthe, the herbal liqueur as often blamed for driving people mad as it is praised for its reputed medicinal virtues.
Swiss deputy Jean-Claude Cornu has asked the senate, the Council of States, to consider legislation allowing the green spirit to be distilled and traded freely once again, almost a century after it was banned.
In his motion to parliament, Cornu said legalization would bring great economic and cultural benefits for an isolated valley in the northern Jura hills, the Val de Travers, claimed to be the birthplace of the alcohol made from wormwood.
Absinthe was allowed back into the shops in much of western Europe in 1981 after the EU passed a directive which overturned bans in many countries, including France.
Although the law was later eased in non-EU member Switzerland, the drink nicknamed the "green fairy" has remained outlawed in the high proof form recognized as real absinthe.
Local bootleg producers told Swiss television they feared legalization would open up their market to competition from larger established foreign drinks firms.
About 15,000 liters of absinthe are thought to be distilled illegally in the Val de Travers every year. Most of the locals drink it diluted with water, when it turns into a milky-white color.
The drink was outlawed in 1908 after a factory worker killed his wife and two children in a bout of madness which was blamed on absinthe.
Earlier this month, an elderly man and a restaurant owner from Val de Travers appeared in a Swiss court after one of them was caught red-handed with a bottle of bootleg absinthe, Swiss television reported.
The man later admitted that he had distilled 2,800 liters of absinthe in the past eight years. He now faces fines totalling some 48,000 Swiss francs (US$35,000).
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