Monday memo #11: Shakespeare Smokes Dope
Each day at the The Browser (http://thebrowser.com) we recommend five or six pieces of outstanding new writing. In the Monday Memo we plunder our archives to bring you our all-time favourites on a current theme. Today's theme: Cannabis — as smoked by Shakespeare, allegedly
The Budding Bard
Smoking cannabis will not make you write like Shakespeare, any more than cutting an ear off will make you paint like Van Gogh. But still, the news that Shakespeare enjoyed his pipe (according to The Week (http://theweek.com/speedreads/570947/researchers-suggest-have-proof-shakespeare-smoked-weed) ), no doubt in strict moderation, rather confirms the impression that he would have been a most entertaining dinner-guest.
— Robert Cottrell, Editor, The Browser
But did he get high with Hamnet? Is it OK for Dad to smoke marijuana with the kids? (New Republic (http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112266/fatherland-mark-oppenheimer-considers-having-pot-habit#) )
In Amsterdam everybody smokes cannabis. Wells Tower gets a job in a cannabis café and says it’s like working at Starbucks. (GQ (http://www.gq.com/story/wells-tower-on-marijuana?printable=true) ).
In Mendocino everyone grows cannabis. John Gravois moves there 2009 and finds that the local economy is two-thirds dependent on drugs. (Washington Monthly (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1011.gravois.html) )
Lee Ellis works there in 2013 and finds the dependence closer to 100%. (The Believer (http://www.believermag.com/issues/201406/?read=article_ellis) )
Peter Thiel is investing $75m in building the Coke of dope. Insert your own joke about joint ventures here (FT (https://thebrowser.com/articles/cannabis-the-california-green-rush) )
— Robert Cottrell
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Robert Cottrell, Editor
Duncan Brown, Publisher