Research Suggests William Shakespeare May Have Used Drugs

Claudio Divizia/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Was William Shakespeare high when he wrote “To thine own self be true?” Maybe, according to new research.

Analysis of 24 “tobacco pipe” fragments from the writer’s Stratford-upon-Avon property by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust revealed eight of the fragments tested positive for cannabis residue, while two contained cocaine residue.

The conclusion, researchers say, is that it’s likely Shakespeare did indeed use drugs during his lifetime, and perhaps even while writing his celebrated plays.

“We were delighted to find indications of cannabis,” head researcher Francis Thackeray said. “We can’t be sure that the pipes which we analyzed were those of Shakespeare, but they were from his garden, and they were dated to the early 17th century.”

So how did researchers come to even test Shakespeare’s property for weed? “I had actually begun the project by reading all of Shakespeare’s sonnets,” Thackeray explained.

There may even be drug references in some of Shakespeare’s works.  For example, the study claims marijuana may be the “noted weed” to which Shakespeare refers in his Sonnet 76. Researchers add that drug use was common in Elizabethan medicine, and cannabis  was often used for creative stimulation, though it was difficult to come by.

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