Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Marijuana

According to Arizona's court of appeals, you don't have the legal right to smoke pot for religious reasons. The decision states that freedom of religion doesn't equate to freedom of action. This is true, since we can and should prosecute people who, for example, pray over their cancer-stricken children instead of taking them to a hospital. But since marijuana has no effects any more harmful than drinking a glass of wine at communion, what's the problem with giving it a pass? According to the court, the defendant has to prove that marijuana isn't as harmful as the government says it is. So I guess things like scientific evidence don't really matter. Unless marijuana's harmful effects include wasting public money on ridiculous legal battles over whether people can inhale smoke from burning plants, I don't really see the government's point. Daniel Hardesty, the man challenging the state on this issue, says that smoking marijuana is a sacrament of his neo-Zoroastrian religion. While this is indeed absurd, is it any more ridiculous than believing a cracker transforms into the actual flesh of a demigod as it slimes down your throat? More details here.