Is marijuana really that bad for you?

I've been studying up on this drug and it seems no worse than alcohol. Yes, it's illegal, but so are other things that seem stupid to outlaw. I understand that smoking it is bad for your lungs. Sometimes even worse than cigarettes. And, like with anything, you can get addicted if you do it too much (too much being when it stops you from doing other activities that are important). But, through all of my internet researching, documentary watching, and asking around, no one can give me an unbiased factual answer to my question. So I ask you, if you vaporize weed and only do it occasionally (1-2 times a week at MOST) is it bad for you? Thank you to any answers :)

Ok, I did a quick poll of a few other people and the only thing they thought was "bad" for you was if you may be thinking that 1-2x a week is occasional. They agreed that 1-2x a week was regular. They considered 1-2x a month to be occasional... with 1-2x a day being "worthless pothead."

If our laws were based on what is "bad" for your health, doughnuts and 2000 calorie cheeseburgers would be much higher up the list than marijuana. But they don't change your behavior. More than eighty percent of the calls first responders make are in some way related to mind altering substances.

Nobody could argue that the the substance abuse laws in the US make sense. We spend more than 20 billion dollars a year to budget the DEA and who knows what percentage of state and local budgets could be eliminated if marijuana was legalized. A huge percentage of the people in prisons are there for illegal drug distribution yet alcohol is legal, sometimes sold in state owned stores, to make a profit. That just doesn't make sense.

There are some arguable differences. Alcohol can be tested to measure the degree of impairment. Marijuana tests only show whether it has been used. How much, when it was used and the influence on the user are vague. That makes a big difference in holding people responsible for what they do when under the influence, not only criminally but in liability cases where others are injured or killed. Whether that is enough difference to justify how they're dealt with under the law is a matter of opinion.

One interesting note, when alcohol was outlawed under prohibition, it's consumption increased to the point that the laws were repealed. Marijuana wasn't a serious problem in the US until it was made illegal. Is it possible that legalization of marijuana could:

* Increase government revenue by taxing it.
* Reduce government operating costs for enforcement and prisons.
* Reduce the crime rate by lowering prices to the point that cartels and gangsters couldn't compete.
* Reduce usage by taking the illicit counter-culture element out of the equation.