Carl Sagan, as "Mr. X," Extolled Benefits of Marijuana

Posted by timothy on Thursday October 9, 2014 @07:20AM from the what-about-neil-degrasse-tyson dept.

New submitter Colin Castro writes with an exceprt from the San Francisco Chronicle that reveals a different side of Carl Sagan: MarijuanaMajority.com founder Tom Angell spent a few days this summer in the Library of Congress researching the iconic American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist and author and has come away with a bounty. Angell says he found some never-before-released writings on marijuana policy from the author of classics such as 'Contact' and the TV show 'Cosmos', which is the most widely watched series in the history of American public television. ... I am convinced that there are genuine and valid levels of perception available with cannabis (and probably with other drugs) which are, through the defects of our society and our educational system, unavailable to us without such drugs,' Sagan wrote in 1971, under the name Mr. X.

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Re:Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-09 07:57 · Score: 5, Informative

You must be high.
Carl Sagan has 168 scientific publications, 10 of which have been cited more than 100 times. Many of them are in exceptionally high impact journals (e.g., Nature, Science).
Re:What 20 years of research on pot has taught us by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-09 08:27 · Score: 5, Informative

LD50 of Tetrahydrocannabinol (active ingredient found in Cannabis): 3000 mg/kg in dogs and monkeys.
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wi...
Same page says Oral LD50 of Table Salt: 3000 mg/kg in rats. So, marijuana is roughly on par with potato chips.