Radical alternatives proposed for cannabis controls - science-in-society

I think I've become pretty convinced that the present regimes for controlling recreational use of mood-altering substances is driven more by prejudice and moral panic than by evidence. This conviction has been bolstered by a recent report on cannabis. Here's one report: Radical alternatives proposed for cannabis controls - science-in-society - 30 December 2008 - New Scientist And the salient bit of the report: "Despite the undoubted dangers associated with marijuana, the Beckley report concludes that it is far less harmful to users and to society in general than other illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine, and far less damaging than the legal drugs tobacco and alcohol. There have been only two documented deaths from marijuana overdose, the report notes. This contrasts with 200,000 deaths from all causes each year attributed to other illegal drugs, 2.5 million deaths annually related to alcohol and 5 million to smoking."
The article in NS ends with a resume of the known effects with some illuminating comparisons with alcohol usage demonstrating there's a lot of institutionalised hypocrisy abou the whole thing.