Ecstasy, in both senses

The two senses I'm referrig to are: Ecstasy, the drug, and Ecstasy, the state. The former induces the latter, but the latter does not require the former. What is the connection?

I've never done ecstacy, but I've been meditating regularly for almost three years now. My roommate has never done meditation, but used to do "E" every week. We've been comparing notes for weeks now, and we've noticed some similarities.

It first came up when we were talking about sex. (we're both male) He said that when he was on E, he could go for much longer: "sometimes, like, half an hour!" I tried to hide my pity, and explained that some people could go for quite a bit longer, even without drugs. I explained that since I started meditating, I'd been able to enjoy sex more and for longer periods of time.

There were some other things on his list: Ecstacy gives you more awareness and sensation of your body. Meditation: Check. A feeling of peace and happiness: Check. A feeling that a weight has been lifted from your shoulders: Check. Empathy: Check.

From our discussions, it seems like they are the same thing. This is one of the things that led me to my Game Genie theory of drugs: Drugs allow us to experience states that would normally only occur much later in our spiritual development, or after years of practice. But every state that a drug can induce is a state that a human can acheive without drugs.

Ecstasy does all those things that are also achieved with meditation. If used correctly, it can be a great therapy tool, but the user has to have a rudimentary knowledge of what their own problems are and a goal of "working" on them during the e session.
Things about ecstasy I wish were more like meditation:
after meditation one feels free and light; after e, one feels chemical burn
After meditation one's head feels clear; after e one's head may feel clear, but Moody Tuesday is coming and must be prepared for and battled
Meditation can be used to get yourself down from a bad roll or lessen the physical effects of a bad roll. I once ate some bad e, meaning it wasn't really e - know thy source!- and ended up with a major headache and I couldn't focus my vision. After half an hour of deep meditation I felt completely normal, normal enough to go open the show I was stage managing later that night.

Another thing about ecstasy I wish was more like meditiation - the more you meditate the stronger you become, (physically, emotionally, spiritually, cognitively), the reverse is true with ecstasy, it will completly wear you out with longterm and heavy use.