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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4/20

An annual 4/20 gathering at the University of Santa Cruz - click to enlarge

According to the Wikipedia: “A large celebration is held every year on 4/20 at the University of Colorado's Boulder campus, with attendance reaching more than 10,000 in 2008. University police have tried various methods to prevent the gathering, including photographing students participating in the event, but the crowd has grown every year. In Dunedin, New Zealand, students at the University of Otago and other cannabis law reform activists meet under a walnut tree on the Otago University Union Lawn on Wednesdays and Fridays at 4:20pm to openly smoke cannabis in public in what they consider an act of protest. In 2008 a member of the Dunedin group was arrested and others were issued trespass notices after attempting to openly smoke cannabis at one of the regular 4:20pm protest meetings. "

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