system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What makes the smoking of Weed different from Tobacco when it comes to respiratory issues / Cancer?

I've seen multiple studies and news articles calling out the harm that Tobacco does to smokers but little to nothing when it comes to Weed. The position seems to be mirrored by governments and regulators who are slowly legalizing weed while restricting Tobacco. Shouldn't the smoking of weed produce similar components like tar, carbon monoxide and nitrates that are blamed for the harm that Tobacco does?
gpt
Tobacco appears to be uniquely terrible for you, which isn't to say that smoking *anything* is a good idea, but tobacco is a poor metric. 

Reasons why:

First, because of the way tobacco is grown with high phosphate fertilizer, you end up with Polonium deposited on the leaves. 

Second, the drying and curing process (of any kind) results in the formation of extremely carcinogenic molecules called Tobacco Specific Nitrosamines (TSN's). 

Third, in most places the curing is done under large gas burners, which greatly increases the rate of formation of those TSN's. 

Fourth and finally, cigarettes are generally consumed at a pretty fair clip compared to even a heavy smoker of marijuana.