大麻并不比酒精更危险：英语精读讲义

Here's something most people don't know about marijuana.

关于大麻，有件事大多数人都不知道。

Officially, the U.S.

按照美国的官方规定，

federal government classifies it as a schedule one drug. 講解

联邦政府将它列为一级管制药物。

That is the strictest classification they have, period, full stop. 語氣意圖

这是他们最严格的分类，就这么定了，没什么好说的。

That means the government thinks marijuana is more dangerous

这意味着政府认为大麻比

than schedule two drugs like cocaine or meth.

可卡因或冰毒这类二级管制药物更危险。

It means they think marijuana is on the same plane as heroin. 習語

也就是说，他们认为大麻和海洛因处在同一等级。

About 3,000 people died from heroin overdoses in 2010.

2010年，约有3000人死于海洛因过量。

You know how many people died directly from overdosing on marijuana? 表達脈絡

你知道有多少人直接死于大麻过量吗？

Zero.

零。

And I don't mean zero in 2010. 表達脈絡

我说的可不只是2010年为零。

I mean zero in basically recorded human history.

而是说，在人类基本上全部有记载的历史中，都是零。

Which isn't to say smoking hay bale's worth of pot 講解

但这并不是说，抽上整整一捆干草那么多的大麻

is a good idea.

是个好主意。

It's not.

当然不是。

But notice what I did there.

但请注意我刚才做了什么。

You hear that all the time.

这种话你总能听到。

That's what we in the media business

这就是我们媒体从业者所谓的

call the to be sure paragraph. 文化背景

“话虽如此”段落。

It's the paragraph where we cover our asses. 習語

这一段就是用来给自己留后路的。

Almost everyone says that.

几乎人人都会这么说。

Even the people who think legalizing marijuana is a great idea

即使是那些认为大麻合法化很棒的人

don't say it's a good thing.

也不会说大麻本身是好东西。

The argument for legalizing pot isn't that pot is good, 語法

支持大麻合法化的理由，并不是大麻有多好，

but that the war on pot is bad.

而是这场打击大麻的战争很糟糕。

But there is a way in which legal pot

不过，大麻合法化却有可能

could be a huge public health win. 短語搭配

成为公共卫生领域的一场巨大胜利。

I mean one of the biggest public health wins we've had in decades,

我是说，这可能成为几十年来最重大的公共卫生成果之一，

saving huge numbers of lives.

挽救无数人的生命。

Let's go back to that drug schedule.

我们再回头看看那张管制药物分级表。

There is one drug you won't see on there

有一种药物你在表上根本看不到，

even though it is a hell of a lot more dangerous than pot or even cocaine. 用詞

尽管它比大麻，甚至比可卡因都要危险得多。

That's alcohol.

那就是酒精。

The thing about alcohol is it's really bad for you, 語法

酒精的问题在于，它真的对身体非常有害，

lethally bad for you.

甚至足以致命。

I don't want to be a hypocrite here. 語氣意圖

我可不想在这里装虚伪。

I enjoy a drink.

我自己也喜欢喝一杯。

But the evidence on this

但这方面的证据

you cannot run away from it. 習語

是你怎么也无法回避的。

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say there are

美国疾病控制与预防中心称，

88,000 deaths each year attributable to alcohol. 短語搭配

每年有8.8万人因酒精而死亡。

About 25,000 of them are just direct overdoses.

其中约2.5万人直接死于酒精过量。

The numbers here are really amazing.

这些数字实在惊人。

A Columbia University study found that being drunk

哥伦比亚大学的一项研究发现，醉酒

increases the risk of a fatal accident 13-fold. 用詞

会让致命事故的风险增至原来的13倍。

Pot, by contrast, 表達脈絡

相比之下，大麻

increases the risk by less than 2-fold.

只会让这种风险增至不到原来的2倍。

Then there's all the other nasty stuff 語法

此外，还有其他种种恶果，

alcohol leads to.

都是酒精带来的。

It's a big contributor to violence, 短語搭配

酒精是暴力的一大推手，

to crime, to addiction.

也会助长犯罪和成瘾。

It breaks up families, 短語動詞

它会让家庭破裂，

gives people cancer.

让人患上癌症。

It gives them liver failure.

还会导致肝衰竭。

People forget this, but Prohibition, 文化背景

人们忘了这一点，但当年的禁酒令

we laugh at it now,

如今看来很可笑，

but it was happening for a reason.

可它的出现是有原因的。

People drank more then

那时人们喝得更多，

and it was a scourge. 用詞

酒精成了一大社会祸害。

So, this is the question with legal pot.

所以，大麻合法化的关键问题就在这里。

Would people use it as a replacement 用詞

人们会用它来取代酒精，

or a complement to alcohol?

还是把它当成酒精的补充？

If it's a replacement,

如果是取代，

it's a huge deal.

那可就意义重大了。

Marijuana is a lot safer to use than alcohol.

使用大麻比饮酒安全得多。

People don't die from it.

人们不会因为大麻而死。

They rarely kill others while on it. 用詞

他们吸食大麻后也很少杀害他人。

More marijuana and less alcohol 表達脈絡

多用大麻、少喝酒，

means fewer deaths from intoxication,

就意味着因中毒而死的人更少，

fewer drunk driving fatalities,

死于酒驾的人更少，

less crime, less violence.

犯罪和暴力也更少。

But if marijuana complements alcohol rather than replacing it,

但如果大麻不是取代酒精，而是成了酒精的补充，

then it's a problem.

那就麻烦了。

If it makes people, for whatever reason, 語法

如果不管出于什么原因，它让人们

drink more,

喝得更多，

then legalizing pot

那么大麻合法化

might actually make our alcohol problem worse.

反而可能让我们的酒精问题更加严重。

Now, I'm going to say something that kind of sucks. 用詞

接下来我要说的话有点扫兴。

We actually don't know the answer here.

其实，我们还不知道答案。

There's encouraging early evidence.

目前已有一些令人鼓舞的初步证据。

In a survey of Canadian medical marijuana users,

一项针对加拿大医用大麻使用者的调查显示，

41% said they replaced alcohol with marijuana. 短語搭配

41%的人表示，他们用大麻取代了酒精。

Another survey of California medical marijuana users

另一项针对加州医用大麻使用者的调查

found they drank less than the national average.

发现，他们的饮酒量低于全国平均水平。

But those are medical marijuana users. 表達脈絡

但这些人都是医用大麻使用者。

They might be different than the general population.

他们可能和普通人群不一样。

People using marijuana for fun 語法

为了消遣而使用大麻的人

might have a very different relationship to alcohol

与酒精的关系可能和

than people using marijuana because they're sick.

因病使用大麻的人截然不同。

But this isn't just something we can study. 表達脈絡

但这不只是一个可供研究的问题。

It's something that we can affect,

这还是一件我们能够影响、

that we can change.

能够改变的事。

Since we know a lot of people want to use some kind of mind-altering substance, 用詞

既然我们知道许多人都想使用某种能改变精神状态的物质，

we could arrange public policy to push them towards the safer one. 短語搭配

我们就可以制定公共政策，引导他们选择更安全的那一种。

But right now,

但眼下，

we can't because the federal government, against all the evidence,

我们做不到，因为联邦政府无视所有证据，

thinks marijuana is an incredibly, insanely dangerous substance

认定大麻是一种危险到不可思议、危险到近乎疯狂的物质，

with absolutely no redeeming value under any circumstance. 語氣意圖

无论在什么情况下，都绝对没有任何可取之处。

What are they smoking? 習語

他们到底抽了什么？