Two Muslim myths, one from the 10th century A.D. and the other from the 13th century A.D., have been the sources of some of the contemporary attitudes about the drug. The first myth deals with hashish as a magical eastern drug brought by the Arabs into Spain in the 10th century. These invaders confined its use primarily to themselves, taking it back to Africa when they left Spain. Although it did not become a European habit, some beliefs about the drug were left behind.

The existence of this "magical eastern drug" was probably known to Marco Polo, the Venetian traveler of the 13th century A.D. before he left on his journey to the East. Marco Polo returned to Europe with his own tale of cannabis which, in the potent form of hashish, was said to be used as an intoxicant by Hasan-I-Sabbah to send his ruthless followers on missions of murder. The word "assassin" was said to be derived from the word "hashish," or from Hasan. Marco Polo had written about how this "Old Man of the Mountain" sent his men out on their missions with all the color and pageantry that Europeans associated with the East. As Marco Polo described:

In the territory of the Assassins there were delicious walled gardens in which one can find everything that can satisfy the needs of the body and the caprices of the most exacting sensuality. Great banks of gorgeous flowers and bushes covered with fruit stand amongst crystal rivers of living water.... Trellises of roses and fragrant vines cover with their foliage pavilions of jade and porcelain furnished with Persian carpets and Grecian embroideries.

Delicious drinks in vessels of gold or crystal are served by young boys or girls, whose dark unfathomable eyes cause them to resemble the Houris, divinities of that Paradise which the Prophet promised to believers. The sound of harps mingles with the cooing of doves, the murmur of soft voices blends with the sighing of the reeds. All is joy, pleasure, voluptuousness and enchantment.

The Grand Master of the Assassins, whenever he discovers a young man resolute enough to belong to his murderous legions ... invites the youth to his table and intoxicates him with the plant "hashish." Having been secretly transported to the pleasure gardens the young man imagines that he has entered the Paradise of Mahomet. The girls, lovely as Houris, contribute to the illusion. After he has enjoyed to satiety all the joys promised by the-Prophet to his elect, he falls back to the presence of the Grand Master. Here he is informed that he can enjoy perpetually the delights he has just tasted If he will take part in the war of the Infidel as commanded by the Prophet.

Another translation begins the tale this way:

Now no man was allowed to enter the Garden save those whom he intended to be his ASHISHIN.

In reality, this was a religious situation and scholars have long since exposed Marco Polo's tale as being a myth, at best an imaginative embellishment of tales he had heard.