请给大麻正名

 

 

 

 

我19岁女儿某天告诉我说，她曾在凌晨3点熟睡中突然收到一通朋友来电呼叫比萨订购服务。尽管她多次向这位朋友解释说他打错了电话，她这里不是披萨饼店，但他好像仍云里雾里，浑然不知为何比萨店拒绝为客户送货上门。

 

I had a good laugh when my 19-year-old daughter told me one day that she was waken up at 3 am by a phone call from one of her friends, asking her to deliver a pizza to his home. Despite her repeated explanations that he was calling a friend rather than a pizza store, he still sounded very baffled and couldn’t figure out why a pizza store refused to serve a customer.

 

女儿说，后来获得的信息证实了她当时的猜测，那就是这个朋友怪异的行为是因为他当时正在吸大麻，进入神志不清状态。听后我大笑不已。

 

“The information I collected later confirmed my speculation that he was on joint and got very high at the time,” my daughter told me.

 

但这则故事却远非一则笑料而已。随着联邦政府欲将大麻合法化，吸食大麻现象在我的身边随时发生。不断从路旁袭来的大麻的臭味和讨厌的烟雾，扰乱了我在蓝天下散步的平静，也给我那本来悠闲，愉快的心情笼罩上一份不快的阴影。

 

But the story provides much more than a laughing material. As the federal government prepares to legalize marijuana, cannabis has come closer to my life than ever. It seems that the pungent smells and weed vapours from the sidewalks have increasingly invaded my living environment, ruining my afternoon stroll under the blue sky, adding some unpleasant experiences to my otherwise enjoyable days.

 

然而，我可能是全球那数十亿人口中把大麻木，这一在全世界有争议的植物，错误地打上恶魔的标签中的一名。对于大多数中国人来说，大麻是鸦片的代名词。鸦片是一强效毒品，在让数百万中国老百姓成为瘾君子的屈辱世纪上打上了深深的历史烙印。有关鸦片的惨痛记忆令今天的中国政府制定了严厉的禁毒政策及毫不留情的恶法，对那些隐居子，包括吸食大麻者实施不分皂白及不择手段的制裁打击。

 

However, I may have become one of the billion population who wrongfully slapped a devil label on weed, the most controversial plant in the world. To most people with a Chinese background, cannabis is a synonym to opium, a far potent substance that started China’s century of humiliation and left millions of Chinese becoming drug addicts. The bitter collective memories have led the Chinese government to set on a stringent prohibition path, drafting draconian laws that brutally and indiscriminately crack down on any drug users, including those smoking marijuana.  

 

中国去年开展的大规模打击吸毒运动采取在酒吧内进行随机毒品检测手段，并将娱乐业设为严打对象。11位名流在这场运动中被中国警方拘捕，从成龙的儿子房祖名（Jaycee Chan）到23岁的台湾演员高陈东（Ko Chen-tung）无一幸免。蒙特利尔马术多曾舞台秀（Cavalia）的两名魁北克员工因涉嫌吸食大麻而在中国酒店遭逮捕及被驱逐出境的惩罚。

 

In a sweeping crackdown on drugs last year, including random drug testing in bars and explicitly aiming at the entertainment industry, 11 celebrities have been detained by the Chinese police, from Jaycee Chan, the son of Jackie Chan to Ko Chen-tung, a 23-year-old Taiwanese actor. Two Quebec employees with the Montreal-based equestrian multimedia show Cavalia was imprisoned in China for allegedly smoking marijuana and are facing deportation.

 

但是，大麻不是鸦片，可卡因或冰毒，因此不应该把它们混为一谈。直到最近几十年，西方国家越来越认识到大麻这一植物的好处，包括加拿大在内的许多国家开始让大麻合法化，准许其发挥其医疗作用和消遣功效。

 

But weed is no opium, cocaine or crystal mess, and shouldn’t lumped into the same category as opium.  Until recent decades, the benefits of the plant have increasingly been recognized by the Western world, with many countries – including Canada – starting to legalize its use --- both for both medical and recreational purposes.  

事实上，大量研究显示，从控制癫痫发作，到预防青光眼患者的视力丧失，大麻在治疗一系列疾病方面有奇效。更重要的是，大麻还是癌症患者的绿色黄金。它能帮助癌症患者减轻焦虑，并让病人恢复食欲，让他们吃得下，睡的着，大大改善了他们的生活质量。

 

In fact, plenty of studies have shown the effectiveness of cannabis in treating a mess of disease – from helping to control seizures to preventing vision loss for glaucoma patients. More importantly, it is a green gold for those suffering from cancer. Cannabis helps cancer patients alleviate anxiety and spark an appetite, improving their quality by allowing them to eat full meals and sleep peacefully at night. 

 

大麻所带来的惊人健康益处促使许多医疗专业人士改变了对大麻的态度 。CNN首席医疗记者古普塔博士在2016年发表的一篇文章中表示，他通过研究发现，尽管大麻对处于发育期的年轻大脑有不利作用，但大麻并不太会让人出现滥用倾向，也极少会有人因吸食过量而死亡。另外，除了众所周知的大麻医学效用，人们正在研究大麻的抗癌作用。 

 

The surprising health benefits of weed has led many medical professionals to change their attitude towards it – including Dr. Sanjay Gupta, chief medical correspondent with CNN. In an article published in 2016, Dr. Gupta says through his research he found that despite some harmful effects on young minds, marijuana doesn’t have high potential for abuse, and seldom causes death from overdose.  Apart from the medical wonders commonly known, weed is under study for its anti-cancer effects.

 

古普塔博士在文章中写道：“美国公众对大麻的认识遭到广泛，全面性误导，而我也曾“作恶”其中，对此我深表歉意。”

 

“We have been terribly and systematically misled (on weeds) for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that,” he wrote.

 

鉴于加拿大每两人中的一个会患上癌症的统计数据，包括我自己和家人在内的许多加国人士都可能将在不远的将来不可避免地用上大麻。那时，大麻将不再是恶魔，而是我们生活的救星。

 

Given the stunning stats that one in two Canadians would have cancer in their lifetime, 

taking a hit of weed may become an inevitable experience for many people – including myself and my families. Marijuana will no longer be a devil but a lifesaver for us then.