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Smoking pot vs. tobacco: What science says about lighting up

New York • As more states make it legal to smoke marijuana, some government officials, researchers and others worry what that might mean for one of the country’s biggest public health successes : curbing cigarette smoking.

Though there are notable differences in health research findings on tobacco and marijuana, the juxtaposition strikes some as jarring after generations of Americans have gotten the message that smoking endangers their health.

"We're trying to stop people from smoking all kinds of things. Why do you want to legalize marijuana?" a New York City councilman, Republican Peter Koo, asked at a recent city hearing about the state's potential legalization of so-called recreational pot use.