In article <1992Oct9.124649.23489 at news.cs.indiana.edu> "Paul Hager" <hagerp at moose.cs.indiana.edu> writes:
>allens at yang.earlham.edu (Allen Smith) writes:
>>>> Hello. I was considering the Hasashin (sp, I know), a group in the
>>middle ages of assasins whose loyalty was insured through an interesting
>>(and unethical) usage of drugs. The candidate was knocked out, placed in a
>>lush garden-type setting with women (it was all-men), opiates, etc.
>>available. They were then, after a fun time, knocked out again. They were
>>told that if they died while completing a mission, they would be
>>transported to this heaven forever.
>>The account comes from Marco Polo who wrote about the story that was
>circulating some 70 years after Hassan's cult was wiped out. The
>hashishim, according to more scholarly sources, derived their name
>from the saying that material things were no more important than
>grass. The arabic word for grass is "hashish". Actually, hashish
>was a commonly used intoxicant in the Arabic world -- alcohol was
>verboten.
