Cannabis Found in Pipes From William Shakespeare's Home
by Andy Neuenschwander
To blaze or not to blaze...that is the question.
According to South African scientists, William Shakespeare might not have found that to be a big conundrum. Tests performed on some of the famous playwright's personal tobacco pipes have uncovered traces of cannabis, indicating that Shakespeare was most likely a frequent user of marijuana.
The samples were taken from 24 fragments of 17th century clay pipes found at the author's home in Stratford-Upon-Avon and elsewhere in the town. Eight of the samples tested positive for cannabis, and four of those positive samples came from Shakespeare's home.
This indicates that ol' Billy Shakes may have been high while writing some of his famous works, which might help explain the fantastical imagery in plays such as "A Midsummer Night's Dream" or "The Tempest."
Some scholars have suspected Shakespeare's marijuana use based on his writing already: In Sonnet 76, Shakespeare talks about "invention in a noted weed," which could be interpreted to mean that he found inspiration through smoking weed.
Traces of cocaine were also found in some of the pipe samples, however none of those samples came from the author's home.