To: T L Comiskey who wrote (184058 ) 2/29/2012 11:00:32 PM From: Win Smith Read Replies (1) | Respond to Sagan was a user and advocate of marijuana . Under the pseudonym "Mr. X", he contributed an essay about smoking cannabis to the 1971 book Marihuana Reconsidered . [59] [60] The essay explained that marijuana use had helped to inspire some of Sagan's works and enhance sensual and intellectual experiences. After Sagan's death, his friend Lester Grinspoon disclosed this information to Sagan's biographer, Keay Davidson. The publishing of the biography, Carl Sagan: A Life , in 1999 brought media attention to this aspect of Sagan's life. [61] [62] [63] Not long after his death, widow Ann Druyan had gone on to preside over the board of directors of NORML , a foundation dedicated to reforming cannabis laws. [64] en.wikipedia.org forum.grasscity.com . It contains this entertaining little tidbit illustrating, apparently, a concurrent sensual/intellectual experience enhancement of Sagan's I find that most of the insights I achieve when high are into social issues, an area of creative scholarship very different from the one I am generally known for. I can remember one occasion, taking a shower with my wife while high, in which I had an idea on the origins and invalidities of racism in terms of gaussian distribution curves. It was a point obvious in a way, but rarely talked about. I drew the curves in soap on the shower wall, and went to write the idea down. One idea led to another, and at the end of about an hour of extremely hard work I found I had written eleven short essays on a wide range of social, political, philosophical, and human biological topics. Because of problems of space, I can't go into the details of these essays, but from all external signs, such as public reactions and expert commentary, they seem to contain valid insights. I have used them in university commencement addresses, public lectures, and in my books.
