I take valafaxine / effexor for depression and I remember for the first week or so getting slightly high like as if I'd taken a low dosage of E which was my drug of choice (I had a highly enjoyable albeit mistaken early 20s). I often wonder if there a correlation between my predilection for MDMA and my success with venlafaxine (which saved my life).
On a political note it is perverse how alcohol which often renders people violent and risk taking is celebrated, whilst a substance that causes one to dance, hug and spends hours discussing and friendly debating Marxist political theory is distained.
Alcohol has an extremely long history in humanity; synthesized chemicals less so (comparatively speaking). The alcohol industry is ingrained and well established and clearly wants to keep its influence and profits. Prohibition in the US in the early 20th century was a bust. The sad thing is the familiarity with alcohol and its established position as legal vice give it sway and acceptance, when in reality, it is a disastrous and destructive chemical for which there are many safer non-depressive substitutes.
I think the real issue [EDIT with trying to restrict alcohol] is that alcohol is so easy to produce. I've got some "tea wine" brewing ATM that consists of tea, sugar, and bread yeast. You could literally make hard apple cider with just pressed apple juice in a jar with a lid loose enough to let the CO2 escape; the apples will have wild yeast on them already. No idea how to make MDMA, but I presume it's nowhere near that easy.
It's not that easy, but it's not exactly difficult, either. I've seen more complicated baking recipes. The hard part is not having the DEA kick down your door, shoot your dog, and throw you in a cage.
I haven't made hard apple cider that way, but I have made apple cider vinegar that way -- press the apples and put the juice in a jar covered in cheesecloth, to let the oxygen in, and wait a month. The wild yeast converts sugar to alcohol, and the wild acetobacter converts alcohol to vinegar. For alcohol, everything else is either about improving the flavor, or reducing the risk of infection.
Personally I wouldn't risk the DEA either; but a lot of people would -- particularly if it seemed like "everyone else" was doing it too.
On a political note it is perverse how alcohol which often renders people violent and risk taking is celebrated, whilst a substance that causes one to dance, hug and spends hours discussing and friendly debating Marxist political theory is distained.