After centuries of excavations to find more about the author behind masterpieces such as "Hamlet" and "Romeo and Juliet," it has been recently discovered that among William Shakespeare facts one thing may have been overlooked for the longest time, as the most celebrated author in the English language (and many others) may have consumed marijuana.
In recent research from some of the playwright's daily items, South African scientists may have found shocking William Shakespeare facts, after finding traces of cannabis at the home of the classic author, besides finding traces of Peruvian cocaine plants in a nearby home at Stratford-Upon-Avon from the same time.
According to Time Magazine, to find out these new William Shakespeare facts, the researchers examined 24 pipe fragments from the English town of his birth, some of which came from the author's gardens; upon using very advanced chromatography methods (researching gas in the area), they detected cannabis in different spots, including where Shakespeare lived in Elizabethan times.
Yahoo! News reports that the researchers who discovered these new William Shakespeare facts (which only hint at the author's possible lifestyle) could be a reaffirmation of words in his work, quoting his Sonnet 76, where Shakespeare spoke about an "invention in a noted weed," a line that has seen many researchers wondering about the author's possible drug use.
According to The Independent, there were seven different kinds of tobacco readily available during Shakespeare's time in the 17th century, including some with cocaine from coca leaves, and it's thought that Sir Frances Drake was the person responsible for bringing the latter to England after his travels to the new continent; as these possible William Shakespeare facts are discovered, it's being speculated that the legendary author may have preferred the effects of cannabis for its mind-stimulating properties during his work, and he may have been aware of the effects of cocaine as well as it was obviously used nearby.
The article containing the new William Shakespeare facts was published at the South African Journal of Science under the title "Shakespeare, plants, and chemical analysis of early 17th century clay 'tobacco' pipes from Europe."
