Besides Being A Bard, Shakespeare May Have Been A Stoner
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. To be or not to be stoned. That's the question one might consider about William Shakespeare of Stratford now that scientists at a South African university have found cannabis in fragments of several pipes found in his garden. The clay pipes date to the early 1600s, meaning he might have been smoking more than tobacco. Cannabis was common in England, mostly grown as hemp, which was used for cloth or, more dramatically, rope for hanging. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.