Go to cndc.ucr.edu (no www needed) and bracket your inquiry to,  say, 
1861-1868 and  search "Hasheesh." There are a dozen references in the  
newspapers, and remember that the venerable SF Bulletin isn't included  on that site. 
They knew it was narcotic, but it appears to have been in common  usage. 
Consider today's American attitude toward cigarettes compared to the  image I 
have of my uncle, a surgeon in WWII Europe, lighting a cigarette for a  
wounded man on a stretcher. His own children, born postwar, said "That can't be  
Dad"  because of the cigarette. No one ever said Twain was not a man of his  
time.
 
Bob Stewart
 
 
In a message dated 9/10/2013 11:58:01 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

No  single experiment could yield valid results unless it is conducted over 
 m=
any years. There are too many strains of the stuff - and each affects  the 
us=
er differently

--- I have it from a reliable  source.

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 10, 2013, at 10:02 AM, Hal  Bush <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Larry, I think I am correct is  stating unequivocally that more than a few
> on this LIST have already  performed that experiment.
>=20
> More usefully:  the old  Hoffman thesis about MT's possible sexual
> adventuring in the mining  camps and then SF was based to a large extent 
on=

> speculations  about the "counter-cultures" already at work in those 
regions=
.
>  What do we actually know about marijuana usage at the same time, and  
those=

> same places?  For instance, as the reporter on theatre  in SF, I would
> imagine that he was at least around the stuff, and knew  the smell, etc.
>=20
> just thinking out loud here, --Hal  B.
>=20
>=20
> On Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 7:18 AM, Lawrence  Howe <[log in to unmask]> 
wrote=
:
>=20
>>  Peter--
>>=20
>> I don't know if this is true, but it might  explain why some of my 
student=
s
>> =3D
>> claim that  Twain reads funnier under certain conditions.  Before anyone 
 o=
n
>> =3D
>> this list performs this experiment  oneself,
>=20
> --=20
> Prof. Harold K. Bush
>  Professor of English
> 3800 Lindell
> Saint Louis  University
> St. Louis, MO  63108
> 314-977-3616 (w);  314-771-6795 (h)
>  <www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>