I never knew Shakespeare had a drug addiction.Did you?However,researchers claims William Shakespeare could have written his plays under the influence of drugs. They claim to have identified traces of cannabis in pipes found in the author's garden.
According to Daily Mail ,South African scientists carried out a chemical analysis on broken pieces of pipe found in Shakespeare's garden in Stratford-upon-Avon, as well as in the
grounds of his neighbours' homes.They discovered that four of the pipes from the playwright's house had traces of cannabis on them - implying that Shakespeare himself may have enjoyed the drug.
Two pipes found nearby had apparently been used to smoke coca leaves, but the researchers suggest that the great writer deliberately rejected the more potent narcotic.
Cannabis had been known in Europe for centuries by Shakespeare's time, while coca is native to South America and came to the Old World thanks to explorers such as Francis Drake.
Writing in the South African Journal of Science, Professor Thackeray describes how he obtained the pipe fragments from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and submitted them to scientific analysis.
He used a technique called gas chromatography mass spectrometry, which involves separating out different chemicals to discern the make-up of a particular residue.