評論
打印
How Do We Deal with the Drug Problem?
我們如何應對毒品問題？
1. Drugs. Gore Vidal
一、毒品。戈爾·維達爾
It is possible to stop most drug addiction in the United States within a very short time. Simply make all drugs available and sell them at cost. Label each drug with a precise description of what effect the drug will have on the taker. This will require heroic honesty. Don't say that marijuana is addictive and dangerous when it is neither—unlike "speed," which kills most unpleasantly, or heroin, which is addictive and difficult to kick.
短期內在美國阻止絕大多數的吸毒行為是有可能做到的。只需使各種毒品的流通合法化，并以成本價銷售，在每種毒品上貼上詳細的說明，說明它對吸食者可能產生的影響。這樣做既需要誠實也需要膽量，不要總說大麻既容易上癮，又很危險，其實并不其然。大麻并不像興奮劑那樣容易導致極其痛苦的死亡，也不像海洛因那樣容易使人上癮，難以戒除。
For the record, I have tried almost every drug and liked none, disproving the popular theory that a whiff of opium will enslave the mind. Nevertheless many drugs are bad and they should be told why in a sensible way.
明確地說，我曾經嘗試過幾乎每一種毒品，但沒有喜歡上任何一種，這就批駁了那種流行觀點，說人只要吸一口鴉片，大腦就會被它控制。然而，許多毒品是有害的，所以我們應該采取理性的方法向公眾講清其為什么有害。
Along with exhortation and warning, it might be good for our citizens to recall that the United States was the creation of men who believed that each man has the right to do what he wants with his own life as long as he does not interfere with his neighbor's pursuit of happiness.
在規勸和警告的同時，我們最好提醒公眾，我們的前輩相信：每個人只要不妨礙他人追求幸福，他就有權按自己喜歡的方式去生活。
Now one can hear the warning rumble begin: if everyone is allowed to take drugs everyone will and we shall end up a race of Zombies. Alarming thought. Yet, it seems most unlikely that any reasonably sane person will become a drug addict if he knows in advance what addiction is going to be like.
現在人們耳邊開始隆隆地響起警告聲：如果允許吸食毒品的話，每個人都會去嘗試，我們最終將淪落成一個呆板麻木的民族。這想法真是駭人聽聞。然而，這種情況極不可能出現，因為任何一個理智且清醒的人如果已經了解吸毒帶來的后果，他就不會成為癮君子。
