Another reason for its illegal nature is skewing of information to paint it unfavorably. Experiments and studies have shown than marijuana is far less dangerous and less damaging to the body than cigarettes and alcohol—both of which are legal, sold in stores, promoted openly in commercials, and so on. In addition to cannabis sativa having an industrial use, it has a medical use which has been promoted heavily in attempts to get it legalized. Hearst—who had a newspaper empire at the time—used his media vehicle to demonize marijuana.