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[off topic?] The story I heard was that the champagne makers were worried that they would lose their market share, so they hyped up the dangers of absinthe.
It was just extremely cheap and ubiquitous.
It's disappearance gave way to pastis which is relatively similar. And which remained popular to this day. Although absinthe finally came back in the last 20 years or so.
Mass produced spirits became a problem throughout the western world around the same time, cheap whisky in Scotland and Ireland, gin in England and vodka in Russia etc. The industrialisation of production led to slum housing and cheap, strong alcohol, not a good combination.