美国国家公共电台 NPR--A dangerous horse tranquilizer is being laced into U.S. street drugs

 

 

Transcript¹">

A dangerous horse tranquilizer is being laced into U.S. street drugs

Transcript

Xylazine is the latest toxic² street drug to spread across America. Experts say the country is flying blind without public health data.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

We turn now to the deadly mystery of who's lacing xylazine, a dangerous horse tranquilizer, into America's street drug supply. The chemical, often mixed with fentanyl, is turning up all over the country, devastating³ people with addiction⁴. Jessica (ph) lives in New Castle, Del.

JESSICA: It just eats your skin away. And you just have a hole. And then it leaves a scar.

MART?NEZ: Thing is, experts say it's unclear how and why xylazine is spreading so fast. NPR addiction correspondent Brian Mann found this lack of information is part of a wider problem. Brian, how can it be that public health officials and law enforcement don't seem to know where xylazine is coming from?

BRIAN MANN, BYLINE⁵: Yeah, this really is remarkable⁶, A. And it points to one of the dilemmas⁷ of America's addiction overdose epidemic⁸. Everyone agrees that there's a public health crisis underway, 110,000 deaths last year. But from the start, the U.S. hasn't done the most basic thing you do during an epidemic, which is gather good data, you know, fast, accurate information. Intel on what drugs are on the streets, when it's gathered at all, tends to be siloed in law enforcement agencies and disseminated⁹ really slowly. I spoke¹⁰ about this with Nabarun Dasgupta, who runs a lab at the University of North Carolina that samples street drugs collected all over the U.S.

NABARUN DASGUPTA: We only find out about what's in the street drug supply when it's too late, when people are either dead or arrested.

MANN: And experts say this lack of information slowed the public health response when fentanyl began to spread. Now xylazine is spreading fast, and many communities still aren't even testing for the drug.

MART?NEZ: Why don't government agencies track street drugs and overdoses more accurately¹¹?

MANN: Yeah, the experts I've spoken to say this is a legacy¹² of decades of public policy that leaned more toward the drug war, you know, police and law enforcement, rather than public health. Levi Wardell is in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction himself. And he works now as a funeral home director in Cheyenne, Wyo. And in that role, A, he helps families who've lost loved ones to drugs. And he says it's just crazy that officials don't track dangerous drugs and overdoses the way we track other public health threats.

LEVI WARDELL: Do you remember when COVID started happening? On the news, you saw the map. And you saw where places were getting red, where hotspots were. Why would that not be available for this?

MANN: The Biden administration has tried to improve drug data collection. But government officials acknowledge the system is still slow and primitive¹³. Big national solutions like monitoring wastewater for illicit¹⁴ drugs or requiring law enforcement agencies to report new substances that they're detecting, those ideas just haven't gained traction¹⁵.

MART?NEZ: So many people are dying. How are people on the front lines dealing¹⁶ with this lack of information?

MANN: Yeah, people are trying to get creative. Cities and some states are improving their local tracking and their information-sharing systems. And nonprofit groups are doing the best they can. I spoke about this with Sam Rivera, who's with OnPoint. It's a group that runs a harm reduction clinic in New York City.

SAM RIVERA: The way, you know, we have national harm reduction calls once a month or so. And we're always checking in with each other. What's there? What are you finding here? What are you finding there?

MANN: And people I talked to say this kind of communication is helping¹⁷. But it's a far cry from the kind of real-time national public health data that experts say is needed.

MART?NEZ: If better information were available, how would it make a difference?

MANN: Yeah, experts I talked to, A, say that it would be a game changer. First, most basically, you could just warn the public when there are new drug dangers on the streets. Real-time data about overdose clusters could help focus first responder, EMT and harm reduction staffing. And then there's one more thing. You know, public health officials, A, say they expect new synthetic¹⁸ drugs, maybe even more deadly, to keep turning up on the streets. And without any kind of early warning system, the country is likely to get caught off guard again, as we were before with fentanyl and xylazine.

MART?NEZ: That's NPR addiction correspondent Brian Mann. Brian, thanks.

MANN: Thank you.

 

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

3 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

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 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

7 dilemmas   

n.左右为难( dilemma的名词复数 )；窘境，困境

参考例句：

• They dealt with their dilemmas by mixing perhaps unintentionally an explosive brew. 他们――也许是无意地――把爆炸性的佐料混合在一起，以此来应付困难处境。 来自辞典例句
• Ten years later we encountered the same dilemmas in Vietnam. 十年后，我们又在越南遇到了同样进退两难的局面。 来自辞典例句

8 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

9 disseminated   

散布，传播( disseminate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Their findings have been widely disseminated . 他们的研究成果已经广为传播。
• Berkovitz had contracted polio after ingesting a vaccine disseminated under federal supervision. 伯考维茨在接种了在联邦监督下分发的牛痘疫苗后传染上脊髓灰质炎。

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

12 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

13 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

14 illicit   

adj.非法的，禁止的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He had an illicit association with Jane.他和简曾有过不正当关系。
• Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year.今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。

15 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。

16 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

17 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

18 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。