評(píng)論
打印
For Michele Leonhart, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, there is no difference between the health effects of marijuana and those of any other illegal drug. “All illegal drugs are bad for people,” she told Congress in 2012, refusing to say whether crack, methamphetamines or prescription painkillers are more addictive or physically harmful than marijuana.
在美國禁毒署署長米歇爾·萊昂哈特(Michele Leonhart)看來，大麻引起的健康問題和其他違禁藥品引起的健康問題是沒有區(qū)別的。“所有違禁藥品都對(duì)人們有害，”她在2012年的時(shí)候?qū)鴷?huì)做了上述表示，但她不愿意評(píng)價(jià)精煉可卡因、冰毒或處方止痛藥是否比大麻更容易上癮、對(duì)身體的危害更大。
Her testimony neatly illustrates the vast gap between antiquated federal law enforcement policies and the clear consensus of science that marijuana is far less harmful to human health than most other banned drugs and is less dangerous than the highly addictive but perfectly legal substances known as alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana cannot lead to a fatal overdose. There is little evidence that it causes cancer. Its addictive properties, while present, are low, and the myth that it leads users to more powerful drugs has long since been disproved.
關(guān)于大麻，科學(xué)上已經(jīng)有清晰的共識(shí)，認(rèn)為它對(duì)人體健康的害處遠(yuǎn)比大多數(shù)禁藥要小，危險(xiǎn)性也比酒精飲料和煙草等合法的高成癮性物品要低，但萊昂哈特的證詞反映出，陳舊的聯(lián)邦法規(guī)強(qiáng)制措施與科學(xué)共識(shí)之間有著巨大的鴻溝。過量使用大麻不會(huì)引起致命后果。幾乎沒有證據(jù)表明它能致癌。它雖然有成癮性，但極其微小，關(guān)于它會(huì)導(dǎo)致使用者嘗試更強(qiáng)烈的毒品這一神話早就被證明是假的。
That doesn’t mean marijuana is harmless; in fact, the potency of current strains may shock those who haven’t tried it for decades, particularly when ingested as food. It can produce a serious dependency, and constant use would interfere with job and school performance. It needs to be kept out of the hands of minors. But, on balance, its downsides are not reasons to impose criminal penalties on its possession, particularly not in a society that permits nicotine use and celebrates drinking.
這并不意味著大麻完全無害；事實(shí)上，當(dāng)前品種的藥效可能會(huì)令幾十年沒有嘗試過它的人感到震驚，特別是作為食物口服使用。它可以造成嚴(yán)重的依賴，持續(xù)使用會(huì)影響工作與學(xué)習(xí)表現(xiàn)。未成年人必須遠(yuǎn)離它。但是總體來說，它的副作用并不足以支持對(duì)持有者施加刑事懲罰，更何況這個(gè)社會(huì)允許使用尼古丁，還贊美飲酒。
Marijuana’s negative health effects are arguments for the same strong regulation that has been effective in curbing abuse of legal substances. Science and government have learned a great deal, for example, about how to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors. Mandatory underage drinking laws and effective marketing campaigns have reduced underage alcohol use to 24.8 percent in 2011, compared with 33.4 percent in 1991. Cigarette use among high school students is at its lowest point ever, largely thanks to tobacco taxes and growing municipal smoking limits. There is already some early evidence that regulation would also help combat teen marijuana use, which fell after Colorado began broadly regulating medical marijuana in 2010.
大麻對(duì)健康的負(fù)面作用成為對(duì)其采取強(qiáng)硬措施的理由，在限制濫用合法物品方面，強(qiáng)硬措施作用顯著。科學(xué)界與政府已經(jīng)獲得不少經(jīng)驗(yàn)，比如說，該怎樣讓未成年人遠(yuǎn)離酒精飲料。通過禁止法定年齡以下的人飲酒的強(qiáng)制性法令，以及切實(shí)有效的市場(chǎng)宣傳，2011年，未成年人飲酒率降低到24.8%，低于1991年的33.4%。受益于煙草稅和日漸增加的市政吸煙限制規(guī)定，中學(xué)生的煙草使用率也已達(dá)到有史以來的最低點(diǎn)。已有若干早期證據(jù)表明，制定相關(guān)規(guī)定有助于減少青少年對(duì)大麻的使用——2010年，科羅拉多州開始宏觀管理醫(yī)用大麻，青少年對(duì)大麻的使用率也隨之下降。
Comparing the Dangers
危險(xiǎn)性對(duì)比
As with other recreational substances, marijuana’s health effects depend on the frequency of use, the potency and amount of marijuana consumed, and the age of the consumer. Casual use by adults poses little or no risk for healthy people. Its effects are mostly euphoric and mild, whereas alcohol turns some drinkers into barroom brawlers, domestic abusers or maniacs behind the wheel.
與其他消遣物相比，大麻對(duì)健康的影響視使用頻率、藥效、使用量，以及使用者的年齡而定。健康的成年人偶爾少量使用，是幾乎乃至完全沒有任何危險(xiǎn)的。大麻的效果主要是令人精神愉快，變得溫和，而酒精則會(huì)令有些飲酒者在酒吧里惹是生非，在家里施行暴力，或者危險(xiǎn)駕駛。
An independent scientific committee in Britain compared 20 drugs in 2010 for the harms they caused to individual users and to society as a whole through crime, family breakdown, absenteeism, and other social ills. Adding up all the damage, the panel estimated that alcohol was the most harmful drug, followed by heroin and crack cocaine. Marijuana ranked eighth, having slightly more than one-fourth the harm of alcohol.
2010年，一個(gè)英國獨(dú)立科學(xué)委員會(huì)對(duì)比了20種藥品對(duì)個(gè)體使用者的傷害，乃至對(duì)社會(huì)整體的傷害（包括導(dǎo)致犯罪、家庭破裂、曠工曠課，乃至其他社會(huì)問題）。將所有的傷害綜合在一起后，該小組認(rèn)為酒精是最有害的物品，海洛因與精煉可卡因緊隨其后。大麻位列第八，傷害性約相當(dāng)于酒精的1/4多一點(diǎn)。
Federal scientists say that the damage caused by alcohol and tobacco is higher because they are legally available; if marijuana were legally and easily obtainable, they say, the number of people suffering harm would rise. However, a 1995 study for the World Health Organization concluded that even if usage of marijuana increased to the levels of alcohol and tobacco, it would be unlikely to produce public health effects approaching those of alcohol and tobacco in Western societies.
聯(lián)邦政府的科學(xué)家說，酒精與煙草帶來的傷害較高，主要是因?yàn)樗鼈兛梢院戏ǐ@取，因此他們認(rèn)為，如果大麻也合法化、可以輕松獲取的話，那么受到傷害的人數(shù)也會(huì)增加。然而，1995年，世界衛(wèi)生組織的一項(xiàng)研究推斷，即便大麻的使用率增長到和酒精與煙草同樣的水平，它在西方社會(huì)所引發(fā)的公共健康問題也不太可能達(dá)到酒精與煙草的程度。
Most of the risks of marijuana use are “small to moderate in size,” the study said. “In aggregate, they are unlikely to produce public health problems comparable in scale to those currently produced by alcohol and tobacco.”
這項(xiàng)研究聲稱，使用大麻所帶來的大部分危險(xiǎn)在等級(jí)上處于“很小或中等程度”。“總體而言，它導(dǎo)致的公共健康問題不太可能達(dá)到目前煙草與酒精所導(dǎo)致的這種規(guī)模。”
While tobacco causes cancer, and alcohol abuse can lead to cirrhosis, no clear causal connection between marijuana and a deadly disease has been made. Experts at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the scientific arm of the federal anti-drug campaign, published a review of the adverse health effects of marijuana in June that pointed to a few disease risks but was remarkably frank in acknowledging widespread uncertainties. Though the authors believed that legalization would expose more people to health hazards, they said the link to lung cancer is “unclear,” and that it is lower than the risk of smoking tobacco.
吸煙會(huì)導(dǎo)致癌癥，酗酒則會(huì)導(dǎo)致肝硬化，而大麻與任何致死疾病之間都沒有清晰的因果聯(lián)系。國家藥物濫用研究所的專家們是聯(lián)邦反毒品行動(dòng)中的科學(xué)力量，他們于6月發(fā)布了一份關(guān)于大麻對(duì)健康損害的報(bào)告，指出大麻有若干致病風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，但它也非常坦白地承認(rèn)，這些風(fēng)險(xiǎn)存在著不確定性。盡管報(bào)告作者們相信，大麻合法化會(huì)使得更多人蒙受健康風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，但報(bào)告也說大麻與肺癌之間的關(guān)系“不明確”，而且吸大麻比吸煙的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)要低。
The very heaviest users can experience symptoms of bronchitis, such as wheezing and coughing, but moderate smoking poses little risk. A 2012 study found that smoking a joint a day for seven years was not associated with adverse effects on pulmonary function. Experts say that marijuana increases the heart rate and the volume of blood pumped by the heart, but that poses a risk mostly to older users who already have cardiac or other health problems.
最為頻繁的大麻使用者會(huì)有支氣管炎的癥狀，比如氣喘和咳嗽，但一般用量的使用者風(fēng)險(xiǎn)很小。一項(xiàng)2012年的研究表明，連續(xù)七年每日吸一支大麻卷煙不會(huì)引起肺功能損害。專家說大麻會(huì)加快心率，以及心臟的供血量，但這主要是對(duì)已經(jīng)患有心臟病和其他健康問題的老年使用者有風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。
How Addictive Is Marijuana?
大麻的成癮性有多高？
Marijuana isn’t addictive in the same sense as heroin, from which withdrawal is an agonizing, physical ordeal. But it can interact with pleasure centers in the brain and can create a strong sense of psychological dependence that addiction experts say can be very difficult to break. Heavy users may find they need to take larger and larger doses to get the effects they want. When they try to stop, some get withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, sleeping difficulties and anxiety that are usually described as relatively mild.
大麻的成癮性與海洛因完全不能相提并論。戒除海洛因非常痛苦，是對(duì)身體的嚴(yán)峻考驗(yàn)。但是大麻可以與大腦中的快樂神經(jīng)中樞互動(dòng)，產(chǎn)生強(qiáng)烈的精神依賴，藥物成癮專家說這種聯(lián)系很難消除。重度使用者可能會(huì)需要更大的劑量，才能達(dá)到自己想要的效果。想要停止使用時(shí)，會(huì)出現(xiàn)易怒、睡眠障礙和焦慮等戒斷癥狀，這些癥狀通常被描述為相對(duì)輕微。
The American Society of Addiction Medicine, the largest association of physicians specializing in addiction, issued a white paper in 2012 opposing legalization because “marijuana is not a safe and harmless substance” and marijuana addiction “is a significant health problem.”
美國成癮藥物協(xié)會(huì)是最大的專攻成癮藥物的醫(yī)生組織，2012年，它發(fā)表了一份白皮書，反對(duì)大麻合法化，因?yàn)椤按舐椴皇且环N安全無害的物品”，而且大麻成癮“是嚴(yán)重的健康問題”。
Nonetheless, that health problem is far less significant than for other substances, legal and illegal. The Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, said in a 1999 study that 32 percent of tobacco users become dependent, as do 23 percent of heroin users, 17 percent of cocaine users, and 15 percent of alcohol drinkers. But only 9 percent of marijuana users develop a dependence.
不管怎樣，這種健康問題遠(yuǎn)比其他合法或不合法物品所帶來的健康問題要輕微得多。藥學(xué)研究中心是國家科學(xué)院的健康分部，它在1999年的一份研究報(bào)告中說，32%的吸煙者會(huì)上癮，23%的海洛因使用者會(huì)上癮，17%的可卡因使用者會(huì)上癮，15%的飲酒者會(huì)上癮，但只有9%的大麻使用者會(huì)上癮。
“Although few marijuana users develop dependence, some do,” according to the study. “But they appear to be less likely to do so than users of other drugs (including alcohol and nicotine), and marijuana dependence appears to be less severe than dependence on other drugs.”
“大麻上癮者人數(shù)很少，但確實(shí)有人會(huì)上癮，”這項(xiàng)研究說，“但是和使用其他藥品（包括酒精與尼古丁）相比，大麻的成癮率很低。”
There’s no need to ban a substance that has less than a third of the addictive potential of cigarettes, but state governments can discourage heavy use through taxes and education campaigns and help provide treatment for those who wish to quit.
完全沒有必要禁止一種成癮率不到香煙1/3的東西，但各州政府可以通過征收重稅和教育來防止人們大量使用大麻，并對(duì)需要戒斷的人提供治療。
Impact on Young People
對(duì)年輕人的影響
One of the favorite arguments of legalization opponents is that marijuana is the pathway to more dangerous drugs. But a wide variety of researchers have found no causal factor pushing users up the ladder of harm. While 111 million Americans have tried marijuana, only a third of that number have tried cocaine, and only 4 percent heroin. People who try marijuana are more likely than the general population to try other drugs, but that doesn’t mean marijuana prompted them to do so.
反對(duì)大麻合法化的人最常用的論據(jù)之一，就是大麻會(huì)導(dǎo)致使用者嘗試更危險(xiǎn)的毒品。但各種廣泛研究證明，大麻與使用者升級(jí)使用更危險(xiǎn)的物品之間不存在因果關(guān)系。1.11億美國人都曾嘗試使用大麻，嘗試使用可卡因的人只有該數(shù)字的1/3，嘗試使用海洛因的人只相當(dāng)于這個(gè)數(shù)字的4%。在使用大麻的人群中，嘗試其他毒品的人數(shù)比例要比普通人群為高，但并不是大麻導(dǎo)致了此行為。
Marijuana “does not appear to be a gateway drug to the extent that it is the cause or even that it is the most significant predictor of serious drug abuse,” the Institute of Medicine study said. The real gateway drugs are tobacco and alcohol, which young people turn to first before trying marijuana.
藥學(xué)研究中心的報(bào)告說，大麻“并不是一種入門藥物，并不是藥物嚴(yán)重濫用的原因，甚至也不是藥物嚴(yán)重濫用的重要預(yù)示因素”。真正的入門藥物是煙草和酒精，年輕人早在嘗試大麻之前就已經(jīng)接觸到它們了。
It’s clear, though, that marijuana is now far too easy for minors to obtain, which remains a significant problem. The brain undergoes active development until about age 21, and there is evidence that young people are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of marijuana.
不過，對(duì)于未成年人來說，如今獲取大麻顯然非常容易，這仍然是個(gè)嚴(yán)重的問題。大腦發(fā)育活動(dòng)要持續(xù)到21歲，有證據(jù)表明年輕人更容易受大麻副作用影響。
A long-term study based in New Zealand, published in 2012, found that people who began smoking heavily in their teens and continued into adulthood lost an average of eight I.Q. points by age 38 that could not be fully restored. A Canadian study published in 2002 also found an I.Q. loss among heavy school-age users who smoked at least five joints a week.
2012年，一項(xiàng)新西蘭的長期研究表明，從十幾歲開始大量使用大麻，并在成年期持續(xù)使用大麻的人到38歲時(shí)智商會(huì)下降8分，無法完全恢復(fù)。另一項(xiàng)加拿大于2002年發(fā)布的研究表明，學(xué)齡期大量使用大麻（每周至少吸五支大麻煙卷）會(huì)導(dǎo)致智商下降。
The case is not completely settled. The New Zealand study was challenged by a Norwegian researcher who said socio-economic factors may have played a role in the I.Q. loss. But the recent review by experts at the National Institute on Drug Abuse concluded that adults who smoked heavily in adolescence had impaired neural connections that interfered with the functioning of their brains. Early and frequent marijuana use has also been associated with poor grades, apathy and dropping out of school, but it is unclear whether consumption triggered the poor grades.
這項(xiàng)結(jié)論并未完全定案。新西蘭的研究受到挪威一個(gè)研究者的質(zhì)疑，他聲稱社會(huì)經(jīng)濟(jì)因素也可能導(dǎo)致智商下降。但國家藥物濫用研究所最近的專家報(bào)告認(rèn)為，從青春期就大量使用大麻的人的神經(jīng)連接會(huì)受到損害，從而影響大腦功能。過早經(jīng)常使用大麻也與成績不佳、缺乏興趣和輟學(xué)有關(guān)，但成績不佳是否由使用大麻導(dǎo)致，目前尚不明確。
Restricting marijuana to adults is more important now that Colorado merchants are selling THC, the drug’s active ingredient, in candy bars, cookies and other edible forms likely to appeal to minors. Experience in Colorado has shown that people can quickly ingest large amounts of THC that way, which can produce frightening hallucinations.
目前，更重要的是把大麻的使用局限在成年人范圍之內(nèi)，科羅拉多州商人正在販賣摻入四氫大麻酚（這是大麻的活性成分，簡稱THC）的糖果、餅干，以及其他可食用物品，這對(duì)未成年人來說可能很有吸引力。科羅拉多的經(jīng)驗(yàn)表明人們可以通過食用途徑，迅速吸收大量THC，這有可能導(dǎo)致可怕的幻覺。
Although marijuana use had been declining among high school students for more than a decade, in recent years it has started to climb, in contrast to continuing declines in cigarette smoking and alcohol use. Marijuana was found -- alone or in combination with other drugs -- in more than 455,000 patients visiting emergency rooms in 2011. Nearly 70 percent of the teenagers in residential substance-abuse programs run by Phoenix House, which operates drug and alcohol treatment centers in 10 states, listed marijuana as their primary problem.
盡管十年多以來，大麻在高中生中的使用率已經(jīng)下降，但近年又開始出現(xiàn)攀升，與此同時(shí)，吸煙和喝酒的比例一直在下降。2011年，有45.5萬名急診病人被發(fā)現(xiàn)使用大麻（以及其他藥品）。“鳳凰屋”(Phoenix House)在10個(gè)州中經(jīng)營著毒品與酗酒治療中心，在它所主辦的家庭反濫用毒品計(jì)劃中，近70%的受助青少年將大麻列為自己最初的問題。
Those are challenges for regulators in any state that chooses to legalize marijuana. But they are familiar challenges, and they will become easier for governments to deal with once more of them bring legal marijuana under tight regulation.
這些都是選擇將大麻合法化的各州管理者所面臨的挑戰(zhàn)。但這都是一些熟悉的挑戰(zhàn)，各州政府一旦將合法化的大麻置于嚴(yán)格管理之下，問題就會(huì)變得容易應(yīng)付得多。
