奧巴馬現身說法 大麻並不猛於酒精

With a majority of Americans now in favor marijuana legalization, President Barack Obama is now saying weed is no more dangerous to individuals' health than alcohol.

據美國媒體1月19日報道，日前，美國總統奧巴馬接受《紐約客》雜誌專訪，坦然提起自己年輕時曾吸食大麻的過往，並現身說法稱“吸食大麻不會比喝酒更危險”。

In an interview with the New Yorker's David Remnick published Sunday, Obama said while he believes marijuana is "not very healthy," the drug isn't as harmful as some insist.

“衆所周知，我年少時曾吸食大麻。在我看來，這是一個不良習慣或者說惡習，但與我成年後吸了很長時間的香菸相比，沒有迥然不同之處。”奧巴馬說，“我不認爲它比酒精危險。甚至就對個體消費者的影響而言，大麻的危險性比酒精更小。”

“As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life. I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol," Obama told Remnick.

不過，奧巴馬強調他不是在鼓勵吸食大麻，“我已經告誡女兒們，我認爲抽大麻是個壞主意，是在浪費時間而且不太健康”。

When asked if he believes marijuana is less harmful than alcohol, Obama said it is less damaging "in terms of its impact on the individual consumer."

在美國，大麻合法化的呼聲日益強烈。然而，奧巴馬更爲關注美國法律處理大麻相關指控時暴露出的不公平現象，即處罰大多落在少數族裔身上。

"It’s not something I encourage, and I’ve told my daughters I think it’s a bad idea, a waste of time, not very healthy," he added.

“中產階級的孩子不會因爲吸食大麻被捕，但窮苦人家的孩子就會。而且，非洲裔和拉美裔美國人往往更爲貧窮、不太可能獲得資源和支持以避免過分嚴厲的懲罰。”奧巴馬認爲，吸食大麻的青少年和個體消費者不應面臨過長刑期，“畢竟某些制定法律的人也做過同樣的事情”。

Marijuana is currently classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as aSchedule 1 substance, which the DEA considers "the most dangerous class of drugs with a high potential for abuse and potentially severe psychological and/or physical dependence." Other Schedule 1 drugs include heroin, ecstasy and LSD.

奧巴馬還表示，科羅拉多州和華盛頓州通過法律允許休閒娛樂用大麻合法化是重要的實驗，“因爲，對一個社會而言，大部分人偶爾違法但僅有少數人受罰的現象不復存在，這很重要”。與此同時，他還指出合法化不是解決社會問題的“靈丹妙藥”，這兩個州將會面臨挑戰。

Obama said his focus on reforming laws that punish drug users, noting the racial disparity in drug arrests.

一份最新民調結果顯示，超過半數的美國民衆支持將休閒娛樂用的大麻合法化。專家學者認爲，奧巴馬的表態凸顯了美國政府應順應民意、重新考量大麻禁令的必要性。

"We should not be locking up kids or individual users for long stretches of jail time when some of the folks who are writing those laws have probably done the same thing," he said. In August, the Obama administration announced it would not stop Washington and Colorado from legalizing recreational marijuana use, marking a major step away from the administration's war on drugs.

“改善我國大麻政策的第一步，就是承認大麻的危害比酒精小。既然總統意識到把吸食大麻的成年人關入監牢不合適，就是時候修正錯誤、採用更基於事實的大麻政策了。”美國非營利性組織“大麻政策項目”負責人梅森?特維特表示。

In the New Yorker interview, Obama said he believes these new laws are "important." “It's important for it to go forward because it’s important for society not to have a situation in which a large portion of people have at one time or another broken the law and only a select few get punished," he said.

伊桑納德爾曼是致力於實現大麻合法化的組織“藥物政策聯盟”的負責人，他對奧巴馬的言論表示讚許，認爲總統針對科羅拉多州和華盛頓州立法行動的評價很重要，“這相當於把風注滿風帆，結束大麻禁令運動真正動起來了。”