POT INSPIRED SAGAN, BIOGRAPHER SAYS

SAN FRANCISCO - The late astronomer and author Carl Sagan was a secret but
avid marijuana smoker, crediting it with inspiring essays and scientific
insight, says Sagan's biographer.

Using the pseudonym "Mr. X", Sagan wrote about his pot smoking in the 1971
book "Reconsidering Marijuana." The book's editor, Lester Grinspoon,
recently disclosed the secret to Sagan's biographer, Keay Davidson. His
book, "Carl Sagan: A Life," is due out in October.

Sagan, a former Comell University professor, wrote books such as "Cosmos,"
"Contact," and "The Dragons of Eden." He said in his essay that marijuana
inspired some of his work.

"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," he wrote. "I wrote the curves in soap on the
shower wall, and went to write the idea down."

Sagan also wrote that pot enhanced his experience of food, particularly
potatoes, music and sex.