Weed (as prescribed) gets me and many others moving and active.

There was a deliberate effort to demonize weed in the US as it's associated with mexicans, black people, and counterculture, and it's difficult to monetize if it's legal (anyone can just grow it).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy_lCjA6poo

Also, there are alternatives to smoking it: use a dry herb vaporizer with no tobacco and you avoid the vast majority of the negative health effects.