双语新闻：大麻的危险性低于酒精与烟草？

2014-08-25 17:52:31来源：可可英语

　　大麻对健康的负面作用成为对其采取强硬措施的理由，在限制滥用合法物品方面，强硬措施作用显著。科学界与政府已经获得不少经验，比如说，该怎样让未成年人远离酒精饮料。通过禁止法定年龄以下的人饮酒的强制性法令，以及切实有效的市场宣传，2011年，未成年人饮酒率降低到24.8%，低于1991年的33.4%。受益于烟草税和日渐增加的市政吸烟限制规定，中学生的烟草使用率也已达到有史以来的最低点。已有若干早期证据表明，制定相关规定有助于减少青少年对大麻的使用——2010年，科罗拉多州开始宏观管理医用大麻，青少年对大麻的使用率也随之下降。

　　Comparing the Dangers

　　危险性对比

　　As with other recreational substances, marijuana’s health effects depend on the frequency ofuse, the potency and amount of marijuana consumed, and the age of the consumer. Casualuse 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 maniacsbehind the wheel.

　　与其他消遣物相比，大麻对健康的影响视使用频率、药效、使用量，以及使用者的年龄而定。健康的成年人偶尔少量使用，是几乎乃至完全没有任何危险的。大麻的效果主要是令人精神愉快，变得温和，而酒精则会令有些饮酒者在酒吧里惹是生非，在家里施行暴力，或者危险驾驶。

　　An independent scientific committee in Britain compared 20 drugs in 2010 for the harms theycaused 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 alcoholwas 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，一个英国独立科学委员会对比了20种药品对个体使用者的伤害，乃至对社会整体的伤害(包括导致犯罪、家庭破裂、旷工旷课，乃至其他社会问题)。将所有的伤害综合在一起后，该小组认为酒精是最有害的物品，海洛因与精炼可卡因紧随其后。大麻位列第八，伤害性约相当于酒精的1/4多一点。

　　Federal scientists say that the damage caused by alcohol and tobacco is higher because theyare legally available; if marijuana were legally and easily obtainable, they say, the number ofpeople suffering harm would rise. However, a 1995 study for the World Health Organizationconcluded that even if usage of marijuana increased to the levels of alcohol and tobacco, itwould be unlikely to produce public health effects approaching those of alcohol and tobaccoin Western societies.

　　联邦政府的科学家说，酒精与烟草带来的伤害较高，主要是因为它们可以合法获取，因此他们认为，如果大麻也合法化、可以轻松获取的话，那么受到伤害的人数也会增加。然而，1995年，世界卫生组织的一项研究推断，即便大麻的使用率增长到和酒精与烟草同样的水平，它在西方社会所引发的公共健康问题也不太可能达到酒精与烟草的程度。

　　Most of the risks of marijuana use are "small to moderate in size," the study said. "Inaggregate, they are unlikely to produce public health problems comparable in scale tothose currently produced by alcohol and tobacco."

　　这项研究声称，使用大麻所带来的大部分危险在等级上处于“很小或中等程度”。“总体而言，它导致的公共健康问题不太可能达到目前烟草与酒精所导致的这种规模。”

　　While tobacco causes cancer, and alcohol abuse can lead to cirrhosis, no clear causalconnection between marijuana and a deadly disease has been made. Experts at the NationalInstitute on Drug Abuse, the scientific arm of the federal anti-drug campaign, published areview of the adverse health effects of marijuana in June that pointed to a few disease risksbut was remarkably frank in acknowledging widespread uncertainties. Though the authorsbelieved that legalization would expose more people to health hazards, they said the link tolung cancer is "unclear," and that it is lower than the risk of smoking tobacco.

　　吸烟会导致癌症，酗酒则会导致肝硬化，而大麻与任何致死疾病之间都没有清晰的因果联系。国家药物滥用研究所的专家们是联邦反毒品行动中的科学力量，他们于6月发布了一份关于大麻对健康损害的报告，指出大麻有若干致病风险，但它也非常坦白地承认，这些风险存在着不确定性。尽管报告作者们相信，大麻合法化会使得更多人蒙受健康风险，但报告也说大麻与肺癌之间的关系“不明确”，而且吸大麻比吸烟的风险要低。

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