The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.0788  Thursday, 5 April 2001

From:           Judith M. Craig <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 4 Apr 2001 22:23:47 -0400
Subject:        Weed Noted in a new sense

I have been moving and unable to get online with any regularity, so this
thread may have been discussed before.

In the Providence Journal, the newspaper of Providence, Rhode Island, an
article appeared last month entitled, "Did drugs play a role in life of
Shakespeare?"  The subtitle refers to an "analysis of pipe fragments
found at the playwright's home site [which] yields traces of marijuana,
cocaine, tobacco, camphor and an hallucinogenic chemical."  Georgiana
Zeigler, a member of this list, I believe, is quoted as saying, "I'm not
saying that Shakespeare would never have drunk, or eaten, or smoked
marijuana, because it was used as a medical remedy at the time.  But we
have no evidence that he ever used it for pleasure."

Have I missed something here?  Are we now deciding that we must evaluate
his life for drug usage?

An article from the South African Journal of Science is referred to in
support of this claim.

Maybe whiffs of the holy "smokes" referred to at the end of Cymbeline
have wafted across centuries to infect our brains.

Judy Craig

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