>I don't think Sagan's love for the audience could be the byproduct of the chemicals he used.
Here are Sagan's own words about how cannabis use has increased his own love and empathy for others:
"The cannabis experience has greatly improved my appreciation for art, a subject which I had never much appreciated before. The understanding of the intent of the artist which I can achieve when high sometimes carries over to when I’m down." [...]
"The heightened sensitivity in all areas gives me a feeling of communion with my surroundings, both animate and inanimate. Sometimes a kind of existential perception of the absurd comes over me and I see with awful certainty the hypocrisies and posturing of myself and my fellow men. And at other times, there is a different sense of the absurd, a playful and whimsical awareness. Both of these senses of the absurd can be communicated, and some of the most rewarding highs I’ve had have been in sharing talk and perceptions and humor. Cannabis brings us an awareness that we spend a lifetime being trained to overlook and forget and put out of our minds." [...]
"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."
Just as alcohol will make aggressive people more aggressive and friendly people more friendly, cannabis will make aloof people more aloof and empathetic people more empathetic.
Here are Sagan's own words about how cannabis use has increased his own love and empathy for others:
"The cannabis experience has greatly improved my appreciation for art, a subject which I had never much appreciated before. The understanding of the intent of the artist which I can achieve when high sometimes carries over to when I’m down." [...]
"The heightened sensitivity in all areas gives me a feeling of communion with my surroundings, both animate and inanimate. Sometimes a kind of existential perception of the absurd comes over me and I see with awful certainty the hypocrisies and posturing of myself and my fellow men. And at other times, there is a different sense of the absurd, a playful and whimsical awareness. Both of these senses of the absurd can be communicated, and some of the most rewarding highs I’ve had have been in sharing talk and perceptions and humor. Cannabis brings us an awareness that we spend a lifetime being trained to overlook and forget and put out of our minds." [...]
"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."
source: http://marijuana-uses.com/mr-x/