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.

Cannabis spread from India to other parts of Asia, to the Middle East and then to Africa and South America, although some believe it may have originated independently in the latter two continents. Cultural values may have played a part in determining its use. Opium and cannabis were equally available in pre-Communist China; but cannabis had no vogue as an intoxicant. The Chinese spoke of the plant as the "Liberator of Sin." In India, it was called. the "Giver of Life". One author proposed that temperament may have also played a role in this determination, suggesting that perhaps the placid, practical Chinese did not appreciate the euphoria produced by cannabis.

Additional evidence of mid-Asian use comes from cuneiform tablet interpretations that ascribe use in Persia circa 700-600 B.C. and of the time of Ashurbanipal's Assyrian reign, 669-626 B.C.

The drug's popularity as an intoxicant spread to the Middle East and thoroughly permeated Islamic culture within a few centuries. Because alcohol was prohibited to the followers of Mohammed, cannabis was accepted as a substitute.

marijuana was probably first used as an intoxicant in India around 1000 B.C., and soon became an integral part of Hindu culture. In China, where the marijuana plant had been used to make cloth and certain medicines for centuries, it was not recorded as an intoxicant. Explanations are unclear as to why marijuana was used as an intoxicant in India but not in China.

Marijuana was also used as an intoxicant in other parts of the world prior to 500 A.D. but was not as well documented as the use of opium. The drug "nepenthe" in Homer's Odyssey is believed by a number of scholars to have been a brew in which the most active ingredient was hemp. Galen wrote in the second century that it was customary to promote hilarity and happiness at banquets by giving the guests hemp.

Cannabis is used in three different preparations in India. The first is called bhang, comparable in potency to marijuana in the United States. It is made from the leaves and stems of uncultivated plants and blended into a pleasant tasting liquid concoction. The second is ganja, more potent than bhang, made from the tops of cultivated plants. The third and most potent preparation, charas, is similar to hashish or "hash" and is obtained by scraping the resin from the leaves of the cultivated plants. Hard blocks are pressed from this material which are converted for smoking.

High-caste Hindus are not permitted to use alcohol. But they are allowed bhang at religious ceremonials, and also employ it as an intoxicant at marriage ceremonies and family festivals. Bhang is used by laborers in India in much the same way as beer is used in the United States.

The lower classes of India use either a few pulls at a ganja pipe or sip a glass of bhang at the end of the day to relieve fatigue, to obtain a sense of well-being, to stimulate appetite, and to enable them to bear more cheerfully the "strain and monotony of . . . daily routines". These types of users and objectives are frequently the reverse of those in the United States where marijuana users consider themselves an exclusive and advanced "in-group". A major intoxicant use in India is for religious purposes.