美国国家公共电台 NPR Legal Marijuana Advocates Are Uneasy With Sessions' Stance

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Advocates for medical marijuana are in Washington, D.C., this week for an annual conference. But supporters of marijuana legalization are uneasy these days. That's because the new U.S. attorney general has been making tough comments about the drug. And NPR's Carrie Johnson reports on the uncertainty¹ about how the Trump² administration will enforce federal law.

CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE³: Over his 20 years in the U.S. Senate, Jeff Sessions made no secret of his disdain⁴ for marijuana.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JEFF SESSIONS: This drug is dangerous. You cannot play with it. It's not funny. It's not something to laugh about and trying to send that message with clarity that good people don't smoke marijuana.

JOHNSON: That's Sessions last year at a congressional hearing. And in his new job as the nation's top federal law enforcement officer, his position on marijuana has not moderated.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SESSIONS: I'm definitely not a fan of expanded use of marijuana.

JOHNSON: The country, however, is moving in a different direction. Marijuana is now legal in eight states. Twenty-eight states have some form of medical marijuana. But the drug remains⁵ illegal under federal law, and that's where the Justice Department and the new attorney general have a lot of clout⁶.

JOHN WALSH: In the world of federal drug trafficking enforcement, marijuana has never been at the top of the list.

JOHNSON: That's John Walsh. He served as U.S. attorney in Colorado during the Obama years. The Obama Justice Department responded to state efforts to legalize marijuana by explaining exactly when federal prosecutors⁷ would take action. Selling a joint⁸ wasn't enough. Instead, prosecutors targeted organized crime rings that ship the drug to states where it's not legal or criminals who marketed to children.

WALSH: Heroin⁹ or methamphetamine, cocaine¹⁰ - those things have been where the real emphasis and the resources have gone.

JOHNSON: John Walsh says even though Colorado voters legalized marijuana, he actually increased enforcement by making bigger, more important cases. Walsh says the Trump administration will have to take public opinion into account just like he did.

WALSH: So when we in the U.S. attorney's office, working with the DEA, looked at a marijuana case here in Colorado, we had to ask ourselves, all right, we have to assume if we take this case to trial, 7 out of 12 people sitting in the jury box are statistically¹¹ likely to have voted for marijuana legalization.

JOHNSON: On Wednesday, Jeff Sessions directed Justice Department lawyers to evaluate marijuana enforcement policy and send him recommendations. Some state officials are worried. This week, the governors of Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington wrote the attorney general. They asked Sessions and the new treasury¹² secretary to consult with them before making any changes to regulation or enforcement. At the White House, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said recently the president's sympathetic to people who use marijuana for medical reasons. He pointed¹³ out Congress has acted to bar the Justice Department from using federal money to interfere¹⁴ in state medical cannabis programs. But Spicer took a harsh view of recreational marijuana.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SEAN SPICER: When you see something like the opioid addiction¹⁵ crisis blossoming in so many states around this country, the last thing that we should be doing is encouraging people. There is still a federal law that we need to abide¹⁶ by.

JOHNSON: Marijuana legalization advocates say if the Trump Justice Department makes big changes, it will be in for a fight. Michael Collins is deputy director at the Drug Policy Alliance.

MICHAEL COLLINS: You know, if Jeff Sessions is looking for ways to make the Department of Justice even more unpopular than it is right now, then, you know, go ahead and pick that battle over marijuana, but it's going to be a very unpopular fight, and it's going to be something, you know, that he receives a lot of blowback for.

JOHNSON: Collins says more than 60 percent of Americans now live in places where marijuana is legal in some form or another. Those efforts, he says, will continue in two years and four years when President Trump could appear on the ballot¹⁷ right next to marijuana legalization efforts in many more states. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.

1 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 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。

4 disdain   

n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑

参考例句：

• Some people disdain labour.有些人轻视劳动。
• A great man should disdain flatterers.伟大的人物应鄙视献媚者。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 clout   

n.用手猛击；权力，影响力

参考例句：

• The queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.女王有特权，但无真正的政治影响力。
• He gave the little boy a clout on the head.他在那小男孩的头部打了一下。

7 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

8 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

9 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

10 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

11 statistically   

ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看

参考例句：

• The sample of building permits is larger and therefore, statistically satisfying. 建筑许可数的样本比较大，所以统计数据更令人满意。
• The results of each test would have to be statistically independent. 每次试验的结果在统计上必须是独立的。

12 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

13 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

14 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

15 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。

16 abide   

vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受

参考例句：

• You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
• If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部，你就得遵守它的规章。

17 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。