2022年经济学人 墨西哥政府边称要戒毒边称“大麻合法化”(2)

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The low price of synthetic¹ drugs, as well as their potency² and addictiveness, make it especially easy to get people hooked on them.

合成毒品价格低廉，药效强，易上瘾，这使得人们特别容易对其上瘾。

According to Ms Chavez, a dose of meth costs eight pesos (40 cents) in Ciudad Juarez.

根据查韦斯女士的说法，在华雷斯，一剂冰毒的价格是8比索(40美分)。

That is less than a bag of crisps or a can of Coke.

这还不到一袋薯片或一罐可乐的价格。

The United States and Mexico have made preventing drug use a focus of bilateral³ efforts.

美国和墨西哥已将禁止毒品使用作为双边努力的重点。

President Joe Biden and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico's president, discussed this when they met in Washington on July 12th.

7月12日，美国总统乔·拜登和墨西哥总统安德烈斯·曼努埃尔·洛佩斯·奥布拉多在华盛顿会面时讨论了这一问题。

“We are making an important transition to treating addiction⁴ as a health problem rather than a criminal one,” says Gady Zabicky of the Mexican government’s addiction agency, part of the health ministry⁵.

墨西哥卫生部戒毒管理局的加迪·扎比基说：“我们正在进行一次重要的转变，将毒瘾视为一个健康问题，而不是犯罪问题。”

In a few places change is afoot.

在一些地方，变革正在发生。

A pilot project in Ciudad Juarez sends offenders⁶ to a special court that tries to avoid doling⁷ out any criminal conviction.

华雷斯的一个试点项目将罪犯送到一个特别法庭，该法庭试图避免做出任何刑事定罪。

The offenders, often young men who have been found with a small amount of drugs on them, agree to undergo treatment in exchange for a suspended sentence.

这些罪犯通常是携带少量毒品的年轻男子，他们同意接受治疗以换取缓刑。

If they complete it, they will have no criminal record.

如果他们成功戒毒，将不会有犯罪记录。

Jorge Ramirez, the magistrate⁸ who leads the project, says the drugs courts dealt with 7,000 cases last year.

领导该项目的治安法官豪尔赫·拉米雷斯说，毒品法庭去年处理了7000起案件。

The federal government may try to copy the project.

联邦政府可能会试图复制该项目。

But despite this there is little sign of change at the national level.

但尽管如此，在国家层面上几乎没有变化的迹象。

Government adverts⁹ are crude, says Rebeca Calzada of Mexicans United Against Crime, a think-tank, suggesting that drugs equal death and that people should “just say no”.

智囊团墨西哥反犯罪联合会的丽贝卡·卡尔萨达说，政府的广告很粗鲁，暗示毒品等于死亡，人们应该“直接说不”。

Mexico lacks treatment centres.

墨西哥缺乏治疗中心。

Those that exist are often shoddy.

现有的那些往往是条件差的。

The government is also in a muddle¹⁰ about another area of drug policy: legalising cannabis.

政府还对毒品政策的另一个领域模糊不清：大麻合法化。

Making it lawful¹¹ runs the “risk of normalising” the drug that is the first step down a slippery slope for many people, reckons Xochitl Mejia of Tonalli, a centre that treats addicts¹² in the capital.

在首都治疗吸毒者的中心Tonalli的Xochitl Mejia认为，对许多人来说，毒品合法化会冒着“使毒品正常化”的风险，这是走向滑坡的第一步。

But it would also help to combat the profits made by drug gangs.

但这也将有助于打击贩毒团伙的利润。

In 2018 the Supreme¹³ Court ruled that cannabis should not be banned.

2018年，最高法院裁定不应禁止大麻。

The government ignored the ruling, so in 2021 the court itself changed the law to allow people to apply for permits to use it.

政府无视这一裁决，因此法院在2021年修改了法律，允许人们申请对大麻的许可使用权。

Such indecision within the government hardly inspires confidence that Mexico can get its drug policy right.

政府内部的这种优柔寡断很难激发人们对墨西哥能够正确执行其毒品政策的信心。

1 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

2 potency   

n. 效力，潜能

参考例句：

• Alcohol increases the drug's potency.酒精能增加这种毒品的效力。
• Sunscreen can lose its potency if left over winter in the bathroom cabinet.如果把防晒霜在盥洗室的壁橱里放一个冬天，就有可能失效。

3 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

4 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

6 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

7 doling   

救济物( dole的现在分词 )； 失业救济金

参考例句：

• "What are you doling?'she once demanded over the intercom. 有一次他母亲通过对讲机问他：“你在干什么？ 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• Many scrollbars are quite parsimonious in doling out information to users. 很多滚动条都很吝啬，给用户传递的信息太少。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

8 magistrate   

n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官

参考例句：

• The magistrate committed him to prison for a month.法官判处他一个月监禁。
• John was fined 1000 dollars by the magistrate.约翰被地方法官罚款1000美元。

9 adverts   

advertisements 广告，做广告

参考例句：

• the adverts on television 电视广告
• The adverts are not very informative. 这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。

10 muddle   

n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱

参考例句：

• Everything in the room was in a muddle.房间里每一件东西都是乱七八糟的。
• Don't work in a rush and get into a muddle.克服忙乱现象。

11 lawful   

adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的

参考例句：

• It is not lawful to park in front of a hydrant.在消火栓前停车是不合法的。
• We don't recognised him to be the lawful heir.我们不承认他为合法继承人。

12 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

13 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。