Shakespear the Pothead

[mik-e_smilez]

Pipes Show Cocaine, Other Drugs Common in Shakespeare's England

By Ed Stoddard

Reuters

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (March 1) - Was William Shakespeare partial to a

good deal more than a pinch of tobacco while composing his sonnets?

While there is no proof the bard delved into narcotics, clay pipe fragments

excavated from his Stratford-upon-Avon home and of the 17th century period

show conclusively that cocaine and myristic acid - a hallucinogenic derived

from plants, including nutmeg - were smoked in Shakespeare's England.

The findings, published in the latest issue of the South African Journal of

Science, also show hints of residues of cannabis or marijuana, but this has

not been proven. Nicotine, unsurprisingly, was one of the compounds firmly

identified.

"The cocaine was found in two of the 24 pipe fragments examined, which is

really quite remarkable," Dr. Francis Thackeray, a palaeontologist at the

Transvaal Museum in Pretoria who co-write the article, told Reuters.

"The Spanish had access to it at that time in the Americas, but the fact

that it was smoked in England at that time is a first. It is quite a find,"

said Thackeray, who is a distant relative of the famous 19th century English

author.

"Cocaine was recorded in Europe about 200 years ago, but to our knowledge

never this early," he said.

"...apparently no chemical analyses have been undertaken to determine what

substances other than tobacco may have been smoked in England during the

17th century," the article said.

It said cannabis sativa, the plant from which marijuana is derived, "was

certainly accessible in Elizabethan England for paper, rope, garments and

sails."

The fragments, which were lent to Thackeray by the Shakespeare Birthplace

Trust, were examined with the help of Inspector Tommie van der Merwe of the

South African Police Service's Forensic Science Laboratory.

DRUG-INDUCED POETRY AND PROSE?

The findings are certain to spark tantalizing speculation that England's

favorite writer may have been inspired to write his enduring classics while

under the influence of substances associated with bohemian authors of the

20th century.

"There is some suggestive evidence in Shakespeare's own writing," said

Thackeray.

"In sonnet 76 he refers to a 'noted weed' which may have been a reference to

cannabis," he said.

"In the same sonnet, he refers to 'compounds strange' and the word compounds

is a known reference to drugs," he said.

"But I think Shakespeare, who may have experimented with these substances,

is saying he would rather turn away from them. I would not read it as an

endorsement of drug use," he said.

Reuters 06:12 03-01-01

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I KNEW weed was intellectually stimulating!!

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