I'm a bit unsure of that myself, but I think when organizations say that smoking pot is more dangerous than cigarettes is because when you are getting high, you are supposed to take a deep breath and hold the smoke in as long as possible.  Cigarettes, you just puff.  I think the only time you will see a comparable effect of smoking relating problems with pot with that of cigarettes is when a pot smoker smokes as much as a cigarette smoker.

Also, some dealers do lace their pot with stuff in it too, which can make it more dangerous.  A friend of mine, who smoked pot for about three years, bought some smoked it, and had a massive freak out.  He felt like he was dying and he said everything around him was melting.  We think it was laced with LSD.  Because of that, he has never smoked again. 

Good read for all those who think it is SOOOO harmful.

What are the effects of cannabis?
Cannabis is not like alcohol. It's not like LSD. It's not like heroin. Every drug acts differently.

In many ways the effects of marijuana are much more subtle than those of alcohol. Even in high doses the sense of balance is not affected and speech is not slurred. Often there is remarkably little external evidence of use of the drug as users behave fairly normally. Marijuana may reduce anxiety and relax the user while at the same time intensifying experiences of the senses, such as sound, taste or touch. This often leads to the "munchies", a suddenly stimulated appetite. Cannabis tends to make people laugh more and often they like to engage in long conversations. People don't tend to feel bored as easily and their feeling of self-worth improves. It may reduce inhibitions without being associated with increased aggression as alcohol is.

Experience of time is slightly distorted, for example leading people who drive under its influence (something that we do not encourage!) to drive more slowly as they over-estimate their own speed (see an Australian study for a comparison of the traffic accidents risks of alcohol and cannabis).

Cannabis temporarily affects short term memory so users might be a little forgetful while the drug is effective. They don't always remember what they talked about in those conversations. Memory function returns to normal within a few hours.

As normally used it does not cause what are commonly called hallucinations. You don't see or hear things that aren't there. You don't forget who you are or where you are. You still know that you are under the influence of the drug.

With smoked marijuana the effects start within seconds and last one to four hours while with orally ingested marijuana the effects start after about an hour and can last from two hours to a whole day. The effects generally wear off more quickly than with alcohol, but they last longer than with tobacco, which is why marijuana smokers smoke far less than tobacco smokers. After the effects wear off there is no hangover and there are no withdrawal symptoms.

Marijuana is not effective for all people. Many who try it don't experience any effects at all. For others the effects are experienced as unpleasant and they never try it again. With novice users, excessive doses and in unpleasant surroundings there can be panic reactions, but all effects safely wear off within a few hours.

Though there is some concern about long term effects of smoke in general, marijuana as such is non-toxic and it does not harm the brain, liver or other organs. None of the risks associated with smoking (primarily bronchitis) apply to marijuana consumed in food (e.g. cookies, tea).

There is no known case of a single person ever dying from an overdose of marijuana. It is safer to take too much marijuana than too much aspirin, a common over-the-counter medicine. 50 doses of aspirin are lethal, but it takes an estimated 40,000 doses of marijuana.

 interesting you say this, cause we sure stop those that love to cut them selvs, but hey like you said it's their body and they can do what they like to it.

Now the question is, should tax payers money be spent trying to help these people once they've gone over board to the point of killing them selvs?

I say no, they should just be left to die, they decided to do it knowing what could happen, so they should be left to bear the brunt of their decision, after all it's their body and they can do what they like with it. 

Then read this.

Now guess which is illegal and which is legal.

 According to many religions, killing yourself is wrong. I do not say it is right, but I have no control over that.

Difference here is that Marijuana does not kill you nor does you doing the drug hurt anyone else.

Take a read, this is about Japan alone and Cannibus.

http://www.taima.org/en/drug.htm

Iam guessing when you say not addictitive you mean no withdrawl symptoms?? becaus people have addictive style personalities and chase the feeling they get when High! So maybe its not as hard as alchohol or nicoteen to get off of but people  can and do abuse it!

Also its can make some people paranoid! Iam not saying its any worse then alchohol ! But its all about escape and when your loaded everything seams so funny! and what about the munchies are we not already to fat here in America!

I used to burn and drink like a fish Iam sober for over 20 years now! When I used to get high at work  Id have gum and eye wash for the red eye! but still try answering a phone while your zoning out! Damn I was wasted!

They dont call it dope for a reason it doesnt make you smarter! Of course when I was in the arcade as a young lad I remember being lit and playing Robotron  2084 the true 3rd person shooter and greatest game ever IMO. Being in a complete zone I went off for over 10 million points it was euphoric when I finished my feat all I could do was roll another fatty and be at peace with the results!

By the way CWM that was me in the arcade back in the day sorry to steal all your HIGH scores!

PS I often wonder if I was on the chronic or the kind some big ol sticky indaca bud if I would still shred! or kust be another 20 LBS short of a hearattack!

WTF is with this thread. I can just see the people who have really crossed the line of depression or insecurity. You can see the people with saddest quality of life here or just having no aim or whatsoever........

There is no doubt that marijuana is a step stone which leads to more serious drugs. Not to say that all pot smokers uses heavier drugs but a lot of heavy drug abusers start out with pot.

 Noone lives or die to themsleves so people who do drugs does in fact effect those around them. 

I am not going to argue this as I do not know the points for or against it. I simply know that I will not do it simply because it is not for me. Again, I don't care what you do in private, so long as it is responsible and not causing harm to anyone else. If you feel it should be legalized go for it, but I will be there to counter you. I believe that it does more harm than good, at this time. I could be persuaded but I doubt it.  It is sad that your mom is addicted to those drugs, that's alcohol and tobacco are, and cannot/will not stop.

I hope you can get through to her soon. The reason I won't use the stuff is not because I am better or worse than anybody, but because I think that it degrades the culture of America. The more people that are "high" the more stupid decisions they will make, imho. We already have enough idiots running around thinking they are brilliant.