Stoner of the Day: To Weed or Not to Weed, That is the Question. Shakespeare Answered it by Saying "Let's Get High!"

Out, out damned pot!

I see Queen Dab hath been with thee...

Now is the winter of our spliff's content.

These are just a few of the pun-laden headlines you're sure to see following The Independent's report about the cannabis residue found in Shakespeare's pipes

State-of-the-art forensic technology from South Africa has been used to try and unravel the mystery of what was smoked in tobacco pipes found in the Stratford-upon-Avon garden of William Shakespeare.

Neither of the pipes with c0caine came from Shakepeare's garden. But four of the pipes with cannabis did.

Results of this study (including 24 pipe fragments) indicated cannabis in eight samples, nicotine in at least one sample, and in two samples definite evidence for Peruvian c0caine from coca leaves.

Shakespeare may have been aware of the deleterious effects of c0caine as a strange compound. Possibly, he preferred cannabis as a weed with mind-stimulating properties.

So, it turns out that the bard liked to get his smoke on. And are you at all surprised?

Considering the wild fantasies contained in A Midsummer's Night Dream or The Tempest, you could see how some herbal inspiration infused itself to his quill.