Blazers
Who is Mr. X?
In the 1950s and 60s, it wasn’t uncommon for mainstream scientists, academics, and news personalities to be closeted cannabis users. Although his TV series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage was a huge hit in 1980, Carl Sagan is primarily known as an astronomy writer, exobiologist, and planetary scientist. A big partaker behind closed doors, the one-time Harvard professor began using a nom de plume to write about...weed. Under the name Mr. X, Sagan penned a passionate essay in the 1971 book Marihuana Reconsidered detailing his marijuana use and how it had been a good thing in his life. He noted the lack of “negative physiological effects” and how “pleasant” it was.
Mr. X went further: “When I’m high I can penetrate into the past, recall childhood memories, friends, relatives, playthings, streets, smells, sounds, and tastes from a vanished era.” In other essays, Sagan anonymously pushed for full-on legalization, oftentimes fuming how outrageous, stupid, and dangerous it is to not legalize cannabis. NASA trusted Sagan’s brilliance to theorize how life could exist among the stars.
Only a stoned Carl Sagan could proclaim, “humans are made of star stuff,” and be right.
