But when hundreds of thousands of Chinese started showing up in my country,working hard on the railroads and the mines and then kicking back in the evening just like they had in the old country,with a few puffs on that opium pipe,that's when you saw the first drug prohibition laws in California and Nevada,that's when you saw the first drug prohibition laws in California and Nevada,
但是,當(dāng)成千上萬的中國人開始出現(xiàn)在我的國家,在鐵路和礦山上賣力工,然后晚上放松一下,就像他們在故鄉(xiāng)常做的那樣,吸上幾口大煙,這就是你所見到的第一條禁毒法令出現(xiàn)在加利福尼亞州和內(nèi)華達(dá)州,
driven by racist fears of Chinese transforming white women into opium-addicted sex slaves.
因?yàn)槟切┯蟹N族歧視的人擔(dān)心中國人會把白人婦女變成鴉片成癮的性奴。
The first cocaine prohibition laws, similarly prompted,by racist fears of black men sniffing that white powder,and forgetting their proper place in Southern society.
而第一條禁止可卡因的法律,也是由那些種族歧視的人提出的,他們怕黑人聞了那白色粉末之后會忘記自己在南方社會里真正的位置。
And the first marijuana prohibition laws,all about fears of Mexican migrants in the West and the Southwest.
還有第一條禁止大麻的法律,同樣是源于對西部和西南部地區(qū)墨西哥移民的恐懼。
And what was true in my country,is true in so many others as well,with both the origins of these laws and their implementation.
這就是發(fā)生在我們國家真相,相信在很多別的地方也同樣如此,那些法律的起源和它們的執(zhí)行。
Put it this way,and I exaggerate only slightly:
換句話說,讓我稍稍夸大一點(diǎn),
If the principal smokers of cocaine were affluent older white men and the principal consumers of Viagra were poor young black men,then smokable cocaine would be easy to get with a prescription from your doctor,and selling Viagra would get you five to 10 years behind bars.
如果可卡因的主要吸食者都是些有錢的白人老頭而偉哥的主要消費(fèi)者,都是些貧窮年輕的黑人男子,那么,你將很容易地拿著醫(yī)生的處方買到煙用可卡因,而出售偉哥會讓你在牢里待上5到10年。
I used to be a professor teaching about this.
我曾是個教這方面知識的教授.
Now I'm an activist, a human rights activist,and what drives me is my shame at living in an otherwise great nation,that has less than five percent of the world's population,but almost 25 percent of the world's incarcerated population.
但現(xiàn)在,我是一個行動者,一名人權(quán)運(yùn)動的積極分子,而背后驅(qū)動我的力量,是我的慚愧,我生活在一個原本很偉大的國家,它有著不到世界5%的人口,監(jiān)獄里卻關(guān)著占世界總數(shù)25%的犯人。
It's the people I meet who have lost someone they love to drug-related violence or prison,or overdose or AIDS.
我遇到這樣的人:他們曾因?yàn)榕c毒品有關(guān)的暴力事件、監(jiān)禁、吸食過量或艾滋病,而失去了他們所愛的人。
because our drug policies emphasize criminalization over health.
這都是因?yàn)槲覀兊亩酒氛咚鼈儚?qiáng)調(diào)刑責(zé)超過人們健康。
It's good people who have lost their jobs,their homes, their freedom, even their children to the state, not because they hurt anyone but solely because they chose to use one drug instead of another.
他們是好人,他們失去了工作、房子、自由、甚至他們的孩子到了這般田地,不是因?yàn)樗麄儌α苏l,而僅僅是因?yàn)樗麄冞x擇了某一種藥物,而不是另一種。
So is legalization the answer?
所以,“合法化”是我們尋找的答案嗎?
On that, I'm torn:
關(guān)于這一點(diǎn),我非常為難:
three days a week I think yes, three days a week I think no,and on Sundays I'm agnostic.
每周有三天里我覺得是這樣的,還有三天我覺得不是,然后在周末,我是不可知論者。
But since today is Tuesday,let me just say that legally regulating and taxing most of the drugs that are now criminalized,would radically reduce the crime, violence,corruption and black markets,and the problems of adulterated and unregulated drugs,and improve public safety,and allow taxpayer resources to be developed to more useful purposes.
但既然今天是星期二,就讓我說:只要合法地管制并對其征稅大多數(shù)現(xiàn)在被列為非法的精神藥物,會顯著地減少犯罪、暴力、貪污、黑市、以及摻假和不受管制的藥物問題,并且提高公共安全,還能使納稅人的資源被投入到更有用的地方。
I mean, look, the markets in marijuana, cocaine,heroin and methamphetamine are global commodities markets just like the global markets in alcohol, tobacco,coffee, sugar, and so many other things.
我的意思是,你看,大麻、可卡因、海洛因和甲基苯丙胺的市場,是全球性的商品市場就跟全球的酒精、煙草、咖啡、糖、以及許多其他的市場一樣。
Where there is a demand,there will be a supply.
只要哪里有需求,哪里就會有供應(yīng)。
Knock out one source and another inevitably emerges.
消滅了一個源頭,另一個源頭還是會不可避免地出現(xiàn)。