Was William Shakespeare high when he wrote his plays?

By Jack Brummet, Lit Ed.

From The Telegraph, August 9, 2015:

"South African scientists have discovered that 400-year-old tobacco pipes excavated from the garden of William Shakespeare contained cannabis, suggesting the playwright might have written some of his famous works while high.

"Residue from early 17th century clay pipes found in the playwright’s garden, and elsewhere in Stratford-Upon-Avon, were analysed in Pretoria using a sophisticated technique called gas chromatography mass spectrometry, the Independent reports.

"Of the 24 fragments of pipe loaned from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to University of the Witwatersrand, cannabis was found in eight samples, four of which came from Shakespeare's property."

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"In Sonnet 76, Shakespeare writes about “invention in a noted weed", which could be interpreted to mean that Shakespeare was willing to use weed, or cannabis, while he was writing."

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