Can acupuncture do any harm?

Well there are 2 different questions.

Can accupuncture do any harm physically?
Only if they accupuncturist is incompetent and not properly trained (ie. uses unclean needles, or punctures a nerve/blood vessel/organ because he didn't know his anatomy).
This one can happen but it's very rare.

Can accupuncture (doing what it's intended to do) do any harm energetically?
I know specific ways you can do things with needles that will leave people mostly crippled (but with very little physical evidence showing anything was done to them), but there are very few people running around trained in this (it's a lot harder than normal accupuncture).
Most of the stuff taught in TCM are "safe/simple" energetic techniques and as a result it's not very common to get anything in your system actually messed up by an accupuncturist.
It's possible, and I can think of a lot of ways it can be done, but given the way people are taught here it's very unlikely and I've never personally heard of an instance of it occurring.

The biggest problem people normally run into with accupuncture is that it frees up block/stuck/supressed energy people have, and the process of releasing it can be unpleasant (ie. painful, brings up unpleasant emotions/memories, gets your body to flush out toxins so you feel sick....although it rarely goes beyond the painful stage).
That process occurring is basically "good for you" and you feel dramatically better once you go through the whole thing, but in the middle it often doesn't feel that great.
However at the same time, a lot of accupuncturists in the West don't want to lose their clients, so they avoid release energetic blockages, which results in the treatments being much more pleasant/relaxing but much less effective for curing anything.
It's somewhat of a double edged sword.

So long story short; yes there are ways accupuncture can hurt you, but it's highly unlikely and your odds are over 100 fold greater for getting harm from a conventional doctor.

hope that helps!

As long as you have a licensed acupuncturist (always check their credentials), you should be fine. He or she should use new, individually wrapped needles and throw them away. I've had ear acupuncture, and felt very relaxed afterwards. Obviously, if you have certain blood disorders or are on blood thinners, acupuncture is a bad idea, but for most people, it's considered safe and very helpful.

honest answer - yes, of course it can. absolute worse case scenario.
can pharmaceutical drugs?
I'll go with the acupuncture.
skepdoc, have you personally tried acupuncture? if yes then your opinion is valid if not don't write it off it till you try it.

No, acupuncture does not harm you. There is slight pain involved in the process but its usually very mild. The only way you can be harmed by acupuncture is if you have a careless therapist, which is unlikely

After all, it's been around for centuries and works quite well for certain pains and diseases.

A careless acupuncturist, or an untrained one will be most likely to cause you problems. Before submitting to a procedure, make sure that the acupuncturist you got to is certified.

yes, there have been cases of hepatitis and blood poisoning from reused needles.
There have been collapsed lungs from needles placed into the chest
There have been cases of permanent nerve damage.

So yes, it can be harmful
It is also a useless placebo, so why would you bother?

if the acupuncturist wasn't gentle