I don't know much about ecstasy so I'll refrain from that one but hemp was used by the us and state governments heavily up to and including WWII and even later.

The drug hemp, marijuana, has been proven in properly conducted studies, to have medicinal properties and was used as such for years in the u.s. until the pharmaceutical companies launched a political campaign to ban hemp along side other natural drugs that had already been banned, such as opium, cocaine, etc. all of which had been used in historical apothecary for pain killers, anti-depressants, etc.

The trouble with marijuana, and ANY plant based medicine, is that the companies cannot patent, trademark, or otherwise reserve rights to the plant. They have to try to isolate the part of the plant that does what they want then patent any and all extraction methods. Trouble with that is, not all plants work effectively when reverse-engineered.

Marijuana, as with many plants, is one of nature's prefab chem labs. put the right environment along with the right botanical skills and you get a high quality product that, when reverse engineered and taken apart, doesn't do so hot.

So, the drug companies can't extract part of the plant to do what they want, so they don't waste the R&D and political "donations" to push a product that every other company will be able to duplicate within weeks of it hitting the market. Instead, they worked with other companies to make the world think it's a horrible thing. The logging industry jumped on this band wagon so they could get rid of hemp products cutting in on their market.

Did you know that marijuana isn't carcinogenic until it's burned (smoked)? Did you know that the effects on the motor skills of marijuana are less severe than many alcoholic beverages on the market and while the calming effect lasts longer, the motorskills return faster than with alcohol? Did you know that marijuana can slow down, and in some cases stop, the effects of many auto-immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and others? Did you know that hemp can be used in rope, paper, clothes, filters, and many other products? Did you know that hemp products are generally sturdier and typically last longer than cotton or wood based products? Did you know that you can grow hemp faster than trees and just as fast as cotton, so it's a much better resource than trees and cotton? Did you know that when marijuana hemp was outlawed, so was non-marijuana hemp?

It's just as illegal to grow hemp that has no THC content as it is to grow marijuana hemp. Permits CAN be obtained to grow hemp for textiles, but it's costly and the constant inspections and excessive rules and regulations make many potential hemp farmers bail out because they can't recognize a return like they should.

Alcohol, on the other hand, can destroy your liver, kidneys, brain, intestines, heart, etc. etc. etc.

I don't use marijuana but I don't think doctors and patients should be denied a viable medicine.

I think recreational drug use of any kind is a bad thing but on the whole, marijuana is no more dangerous a recreational drug than alcohol and it has less deadly side effects.

If the u.s. would tax recreational marijuana like they've done alcohol and cigarettes, and come up with a breath test for pot, they could make a killing on weekend party animals looking to waste their money. Now there's a thought. Fund the war on terror by legalizing and taxing recreational marijuana.