TED演讲 第16期:为什么我们应该终止禁毒战争(2)

 And I liked drinking too, but it was obvious that alcohol was really the more dangerous of the two,  我也很喜欢喝酒，但是很显然这两者中酒精确实更加危险，

but my friends and I could get busted¹ for smoking a joint².  可是我和我的朋友是有可能因为吸食大麻而被抓的。

Now, that hypocrisy³ kept bugging⁴ me,so I wrote my Ph.D dissertation⁵ on international drug control.  这个表里不一的概念不停地缠着我，所以我写的博士论文就是研究国际药物管制。

I talked my way into the State Department. I got a security clearance⁶.  我想办法进入了政府部门。我得到了安全许可。

I interviewed hundreds of DEA and other law enforcement agents all around Europe and the Americas,  我采访了数百名在欧洲和美洲等地工作的药品管制局和执法人员。

and I'd ask them, What do you think the answer is?  我会问他们：你认为答案是什么？

Well, in Latin America, they'd say to me, You can't really cut off the supply.  好吧，在拉丁美洲，他们会跟我说，你真的没办法切断供应。

The answer lies back in the U.S., in cutting off the demand.  答案在于美国，在于切断需求。

So then I go back home and I talk to people involved in anti-drug efforts there, and they'd say,  于是我回到家乡，我问那些参与禁毒工作的人，他们却说，

You know, Ethan, you can't really cut off the demand.  你知道吗，你无法真正切断需求。

The answer lies over there. You've got to cut off the supply.  答案在那边。你必须得切断供应。

Then I'd go and talk to the guys in customs trying to stop drugs at the borders, 然后，我去跟海关那边的家伙聊能否在边境阻止毒品进入。

and they'd say, You're not going to stop it here.  他们说，你不可能在这里把它堵住的。

The answer lies over there, in cutting off supply and demand. And it hit me:  答案在那边，你得切断供应和需求。在那一刻，我终于明白了:

Everybody involved in this thought the answer lay in that area about which they knew the least.   每一个参与其中的人都认为答案在别的领域而他们自己，对其知之甚少。

So that's when I started reading everything I could about psychoactive drugs: the history, the science, the politics, all of it,  于是我开始尽可能阅读一切关于精神药物的资料：它的历史、科学、政治…所有的一切。

and the more one read, the more it hit you how a thoughtful,enlightened, intelligent approach took you over here,   而读的越多，你就越会意识到，一个深思熟虑、有启发性、聪明的方向把你引向这里，

whereas the politics and laws of my country were taking you over here. 而我们国家的政治和法律却把你带到这里。

And that disparity struck me as this incredible intellectual and moral puzzle.  这悬殊的差异令我震惊这真是个令人难以置信的智力和道德难题。

There's probably never been a drug-free society.  这世上可能从来不存在一个没有毒品的社会。

Virtually every society has ingested psychoactive substances to deal with pain, increase our energy, socialize, even commune with God.  几乎每一个社会都有使用精神药物用来解决疼痛、提升精力、社交应酬、甚至是用来与神对话。

Our desire to alter our consciousness may be as fundamental as our desires for food, companionship and sex.  我们这种对于知觉改变的渴望可能和我们对食物、友谊、性的渴望一样基本。

So our true challenge is to learn how to live with drugs so they cause the least possible harm  因此，我们真正的挑战在于学会如何与精神药物共存从而使它造成的伤害最小并且在某些情况下，

and in some cases the greatest possible benefit. 带来最大的益处。

I'll tell you something else I learned, that the reason some drugs are legal and others not  让我告诉你们我学到的另一件事，之所以有些药物是合法的，有些则不是，

has almost nothing to do with science or health or the relative risk of drugs,  这跟科学、健康或药物相应的风险几乎没有任何关系；

and almost everything to do with who uses and who is perceived to use particular drugs.  而是跟谁在使用、或谁被视作在使用特定药物有关。

In the late 19th century, when most of the drugs that are now illegal were legal,  在19世纪后期，当大多数现在非法的药物都还是合法的时候，

the principal consumers of opiates in my country and others were middle-aged⁷ white women,  我国和其他国家，鸦片的主要消费者是中年白人妇女

using them to alleviate⁸ aches and pains when few other analgesics⁹ were available. 她们用鸦片来缓解疼痛当时很少有别的止痛药可用。

And nobody thought about criminalizing it back then because nobody wanted to put Grandma behind bars. 而且没人想过把它定为刑事犯罪，因为没有人希望把奶奶关进监狱。

1 busted   

adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You are so busted! 你被当场逮住了！
• It was money troubles that busted up their marriage. 是金钱纠纷使他们的婚姻破裂了。

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 hypocrisy   

n.伪善，虚伪

参考例句：

• He railed against hypocrisy and greed.他痛斥伪善和贪婪的行为。
• He accused newspapers of hypocrisy in their treatment of the story.他指责了报纸在报道该新闻时的虚伪。

4 bugging   

[法] 窃听

参考例句：

• Okay, then let's get the show on the road and I'll stop bugging you. 好，那么让我们开始动起来，我将不再惹你生气。 来自辞典例句
• Go fly a kite and stop bugging me. 走开，别烦我。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语

5 dissertation   

n.（博士学位）论文，学术演讲，专题论文

参考例句：

• He is currently writing a dissertation on the Somali civil war.他目前正在写一篇关于索马里内战的论文。
• He was involved in writing his doctoral dissertation.他在聚精会神地写他的博士论文。

6 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

7 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

8 alleviate   

v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等)

参考例句：

• The doctor gave her an injection to alleviate the pain.医生给她注射以减轻疼痛。
• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。

9 analgesics   

n.止痛剂，镇痛剂( analgesic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Management of lumbar strain includes analgesics and rest during the acute phase. 在急性期，腰部劳损的处理包括用止痛剂及休息，在床垫下面放置硬板。 来自互联网
• I've taken a lot of analgesics. But they are not so effective. 我吃了不少镇痛药。促是效果不怎么好。 来自互联网