As high as you like it: New research shows William Shakespeare may have smoked marijuana

To get high, or not to get high: that might be the real question.

William Shakespeare may have been stoned when writing his famous plays.

New research shows that four old pipes found in the garden of his English home contained residues of cannabis, reports the Independent.

The research was carried out by forensic experts from South Africa.

Using state-of-the art technology, they examined residue from the clay pipes smoked during Shakespeare's time and which are more than 400 years old.

The pipes were excavated from Shakespeare's garden in Stratford-upon-Avon in central England and the residues can still be detected despite the hundreds of years that have elapsed since the pipes were last smoked.

In total, the researchers found four pipes with cannabis residue.

It is thought that cannabis was smoked in Europe at that time as were coca leaves (cocaine), though no traces of the latter were found in Shakespeare's pipes.

The research was published in the South African Journal of Science.