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美国首都华盛顿向大麻合法化迈进

After Colorado and Washington State legalized marijuana for recreational use, other states and cities around the country began taking a fresh look at their own marijuana laws. Some are bowing to political pressure to fully¹ legalize marijuana, which recent polls indicate a majority of Americans support.

美国科罗拉多州和华盛顿州实行大麻娱乐用途的正式合法化之后， 其他州和城市也开始重新审视有关使用大麻的法律。最近的民意调查显示，大多数美国人支持彻底将大麻合法化，一些州倾向于向这些政治压力投降。

Others, like Washington, D.C., are leaning more toward only decriminalizing the drug. If it does, the city would join 17 states with similar laws.

其他地区，比如首都华盛顿，则倾向于把使用大麻非正式合法化。如果华盛顿真的这样作，这个城市将成为第17个通过类似法律的地区。

The Washington, D.C. city council is moving forward with a bill to decriminalize marijuana. The bill would change the penalty for possession from a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail, to a simple $25 fine. But it would leave criminal penalties for smoking in public.

华盛顿市议会正在试图通过大麻合法化的议案。这个议案将把对持有大麻者的处罚从1000美元罚款以及最多六个月监禁降到简单的25美元罚款。但是这个议案将保留对在公共场所吸烟的刑事处罚。

Councilmember David Grosso, a supporter of the bill, said, “Putting people in jail is no longer the solution to this problem. I think the war on drugs has really failed. And what we need to do is to find a way to heal our communities from that and to make sure that people are no longer being thrown in jail for non-violent offenses².”

市议会成员大卫-格鲁索支持这个议案。格鲁索说：“把人关进监狱已经不再是这个问题的解决办法了。我认为稽毒战争已经失败了。我们能做的就是找一个办法来治疗我们的社区，并且保证人们不再因为非暴力犯罪而被关进监狱。”

Lone³ dissenter⁴

Councilmember Yvette Alexander was the lone dissenter in a preliminary vote. She is concerned the bill would make Washington a top drug market.

市议会成员亚历山大是初步投票当中的少数反对者。她担心这个议案会把华盛顿变成顶级毒品市场。

“It will increase more attraction to this area for the sale of drugs. Because the purchase of drugs has little to no repercussion,” she said.

亚历山大说：“这会吸引更多人到这里来贩毒。因为购买毒品不会带来什么惩罚。”

Supporters argue decriminalization will cut law enforcement costs and address racial disparities recently outlined in a report by the American Civil Liberties Union, which advocates for American civil rights.

支持者认为合法化将削减执法的费用并缩小种族差距，这个问题是最近美国公民自由联盟报告中提出的，这个组织维护美国人的公民权利。

The report found people of color are eight times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession in Washington, even though usage rates are often higher in certain white communities.

这个报告发现，在华盛顿，虽然在某些白人社区大麻使用率更高，但有色人种持有大麻而被逮捕的可能性比白人高八倍。

Washington attorney Paul Zuckerberg has represented marijuana defendants⁵ for 28 years.

华盛顿的祖克博格已经为持有大麻的被告作了28年的辩护律师。

“We are arresting 6,000 people a year for simple marijuana possession," he said. "D.C. leads the nation in marijuana arrests per capita. And we also lead the nation in racially-biased arrests.”

祖克博格说：“我们每年因为大麻持有而逮捕6000人。在人均大麻逮捕率方面，华盛顿在全国最高。在以种族为基础的逮捕方面，本市也排在榜首。”

Drug policy reform

Decriminalization advocates say racial disparities in arrests are a nationwide problem and threaten a generation of black Americans with the stigma⁶ of criminal records.

合法化支持者说，逮捕方面的种族差距是全国性问题，这使整个一代黑人，因为有被逮捕的记录而带有污点。

“Besides the arrests there is the fact that they have the scarlet⁷ letter [permanent stigma]," said Bill Piper, who is with the Drug Policy Alliance which calls for drug policy reform.  "And it is with them for the rest of their lives, which makes it hard for them to get jobs, makes it hard for them to get housing.”

派坡在毒品政策联盟工作，这个组织要求改革毒品政策。派坡说：“被逮捕以后，他们将带有永远的污点。那会伴随他们一生，这使他们很难找到工作，很难找到住房。”

City Council Chairman Phil Mendelson voted for the decriminalization bill, but he thinks the racial disparities argument is the wrong reason to change the law.

市议会主席门德尔森投票支持合法化法案，但他认为不应该以种族差距为理由改变立法。

“I think that is a false argument. To be sure, if there are discriminatory practices in policing, we should vigorously investigate and put an end to that," he said. "But that is not the basis of whether something should be a crime or not. And, in fact, most members of the council don’t support criminalizing drug use.”

门德尔森说：“我认为这种观点是错误的。确实，如果在警察执法过程中有歧视的话，我们应该积极调查并且让这种情况不再发生。但那不是判断一件事情是否是犯罪的根据。并且，实际上，市议会多数成员支持大麻合法化。”

The bill faces another city council vote before it goes before Mayor Vincent Gray.  Then, it must be approved by the U.S. Congress which oversees⁸ laws in Washington, D.C.

这个议案在市长格雷签字生效之前，还需要通过一轮市议会投票。然后还需要美国国会通过，因为美国国会负责监督华盛顿特区的法律。