Interesting thread, but even the original post begs the question - how stupid is the public? If you just look at the two drugs in question that you mention (cannabis and alcohol) minus all social stigmas, weed is much less harmful to you than alcohol, but alcohol has been a mainstream drug for mankind for literally thousands of years. Cannabis was smoked, of course, too, but historically there hasn't been much knowledge of it in the West (especially in Europe, where it was just grown purely as hemp for industrial use).
The point is, it's fucking ridiculous - public perception is just that, perception. If people want to guzzle alcohol down and have problems with their liver, or just get straight up alcohol poisoning, cool, man, I'll be reminiscing on when I smoked and never had to worry about any related health problems.
Minus all social stigmas, though, no, no other drug even deserves a reputation like weed (its positive reputation - the medical benefits etc.) because weed is just a plant with THC that gets people high as all shit. No overdose deaths at all. None.
And also, the high from cannabis, though reviled in the media for making people lazy, is manageable. It's only very mildly psychoactive. It's not like people can be tripping on shrooms and be going about their day like they aren't literally fucked out of their minds...