Farhad Daftary schreibt im entsprechenden Artikel in der Encyclopedia of Islam:
It is to be noted, however, that in all Muslim sources in which the Nizārīs are referred to as the ḥashīshīs or its variants (cf. Abū Shāma, 1:240, 258; Ibn Muyassar, 102; Madelung, 146, 329), the term is used in its figurative and abusive sense of “low-class rabble” or “people of lax morality,” without accusing the Nizārīs of actually using hashish, a product of C annabis sativa, a hemp plant native to India. The literal interpretation of the term for the Nizārīs as hashish-users is rooted in the fantasies of mediaeval Europeans who remained ignorant of Islam and the Ismāʿīlīs.