Thank you for posting this very detailed response. I actually posted a short commentary on marijuana's useful and inert cousin, hemp, earlier this week. Sure marijuana is a drug but it's ridiculous that hemp wound up as collateral damage and isn't legal to grow in the USA either - but you can import and sell it. Great planning, right? Anyway, finally old man McConnell himself is at least open to freeing up hemp from the laws against it.
As for marijuana, there's so much fear mongering against it and it's just ridiculous that people are spending so much time, energy and money just to make marijuana out to be the demon it isn't. The opportunity cost of railing against marijuana as opposed to say actual problems is huge; such is the cost of archaic, selfish and short sighted leadership. But like you say, at least the winds are changing and former fighters against it are waking up to the idea that maybe it shouldn't be illegal after all.