For Michele Leonhart, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, there is no difference between the health effects of marijuana and those of any other illegal drug. All illegal drugs are bad for people, she told Congress in 2012, refusing to say whether crack, methamphetamines or prescription painkillers are more addictive or physically harmful than marijuana.在美国禁毒署局长米歇尔·莱昂哈特(Michele Leonhart)显然，大麻引发的身体健康问题和其他违禁药品引发的身体健康问题是没区别的。“所有违禁药品都对人们危害，”她在2012年的时候对国会做到了上述回应，但她不不愿评价提炼可卡因、冰毒或处方止痛药否比大麻更容易成瘾、对身体的危害更大。Her testimony neatly illustrates the vast gap between antiquated federal law enforcement policies and the clear consensus of science that marijuana is far less harmful to human health than most other banned drugs and is less dangerous than the highly addictive but perfectly legal substances known as alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana cannot lead to a fatal overdose. There is little evidence that it causes cancer. Its addictive properties, while present, are low, and the myth that it leads users to more powerful drugs has long since been disproved.关于大麻，科学上早已有明晰的共识，指出它对人体身体健康的有害远比大多数禁药要小，危险性也比酒精饮料和烟草等合法的高成瘾性物品要较低，但莱昂哈特的证词体现出有，陈旧的联邦法规强制措施与科学共识之间具有极大的鸿沟。

过量用于大麻会引发可怕后果。完全没证据指出它能致癌物。

它虽然有成瘾性，但极为微小，关于它不会造成使用者尝试更加反感的毒品这一神话早已被证明是骗的。That doesn’t mean marijuana is harmless; in fact, the potency of current strains may shock those who haven’t tried it for decades, particularly when ingested as food. It can produce a serious dependency, and constant use would interfere with job and school performance. It needs to be kept out of the hands of minors. But, on balance, its downsides are not reasons to impose criminal penalties on its possession, particularly not in a society that permits nicotine use and celebrates drinking.这并不意味著大麻几乎有害；事实上，当前品种的药效可能会令其几十年没尝试过它的人深感愤慨，尤其是作为食物口服用于。

它可以导致相当严重的倚赖，持续用于不会影响工作与自学展现出。未成年人必需靠近它。但是总体来说，它的副作用并足以反对对持有者产生刑事惩罚，更何况这个社会容许用于尼古丁，还赞美饮酒。Marijuana’s negative health effects are arguments for the same strong regulation that has been effective in curbing abuse of legal substances. Science and government have learned a great deal, for example, about how to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors. Mandatory underage drinking laws and effective marketing campaigns have reduced underage alcohol use to 24.8 percent in 2011, compared with 33.4 percent in 1991. Cigarette use among high school students is at its lowest point ever, largely thanks to tobacco taxes and growing municipal smoking limits. There is already some early evidence that regulation would also help combat teen marijuana use, which fell after Colorado began broadly regulating medical marijuana in 2010.大麻对身体健康的负面起到沦为对其采行强硬措施的理由，在容许欺诈合法物品方面，强硬措施起到明显。

科学界与政府早已取得不少经验，比如说，该怎样让未成年人靠近酒精饮料。通过禁令法定年龄以下的人饮酒的强制性法令，以及切实有效的市场宣传，2011年，未成年人饮酒亲率减少到24.8%，高于1991年的33.4%。获益于烟草税和日益减少的市政吸烟者容许规定，中学生的烟草使用率也已超过有史以来的最低点。

有数若干早期证据指出，制订涉及规定有助增加青少年对大麻的用于——2010年，科罗拉多州开始宏观管理医用大麻，青少年对大麻的使用率也随之上升。Comparing the Dangers危险性对比As with other recreational substances, marijuana’s health effects depend on the frequency of use, the potency and amount of marijuana consumed, and the age of the consumer. Casual use by adults poses little or no risk for healthy people. Its effects are mostly euphoric and mild, whereas alcohol turns some drinkers into barroom brawlers, domestic abusers or maniacs behind the wheel.与其他玩乐物比起，大麻对身体健康的影响视用于频率、药效、使用量，以及使用者的年龄而以定。身体健康的成年人有时候少量用于，是完全乃至几乎没任何危险性的。

大麻的效果主要是令人精神无聊，显得保守，而酒精则不会令其有些饮酒者在酒吧里惹是生非，在家里实施暴力，或者危险性驾驶员。An independent scientific committee in Britain compared 20 drugs in 2010 for the harms they caused to individual users and to society as a whole through crime, family breakdown, absenteeism, and other social ills. Adding up all the damage, the panel estimated that alcohol was the most harmful drug, followed by heroin and crack cocaine. Marijuana ranked eighth, having slightly more than one-fourth the harm of alcohol.2010年，一个英国独立国家科学委员会对比了20种药品对个体使用者的损害，乃至对社会整体的损害（还包括造成犯罪、家庭裂痕、旷工旷课，乃至其他社会问题）。

将所有的损害综合在一起后，该小组指出酒精是最危害的物品，海洛因与提炼可卡因紧随其后。大麻名列第八，伤害性大约相等于酒精的1/4多一点。Federal scientists say that the damage caused by alcohol and tobacco is higher because they are legally available; if marijuana were legally and easily obtainable, they say, the number of people suffering harm would rise. However, a 1995 study for the World Health Organization concluded that even if usage of marijuana increased to the levels of alcohol and tobacco, it would be unlikely to produce public health effects approaching those of alcohol and tobacco in Western societies.联邦政府的科学家说道，酒精与烟草带给的损害较高，主要是因为它们可以合法提供，因此他们指出，如果大麻也合法化、可以精彩提供的话，那么受到损害的人数也不会减少。然而，1995年，世界卫生组织的一项研究推测，即便大麻的使用率快速增长到和酒精与烟草某种程度的水平，它在西方社会所引起的公共身体健康问题也不太可能超过酒精与烟草的程度。

Most of the risks of marijuana use are small to moderate in size, the study said. In aggregate, they are unlikely to produce public health problems comparable in scale to those currently produced by alcohol and tobacco.这项研究声称，用于大麻所带给的大部分危险性在等级上正处于“较小或中等程度”。“总体而言，它造成的公共身体健康问题不太可能超过目前烟草与酒精所造成的这种规模。”While tobacco causes cancer, and alcohol abuse can lead to cirrhosis, no clear causal connection between marijuana and a deadly disease has been made. Experts at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the scientific arm of the federal anti-drug campaign, published a review of the adverse health effects of marijuana in June that pointed to a few disease risks but was remarkably frank in acknowledging widespread uncertainties. Though the authors believed that legalization would expose more people to health hazards, they said the link to lung cancer is unclear, and that it is lower than the risk of smoking tobacco.吸烟者不会造成癌症，吸毒则不会造成肝硬化，而大麻与任何丧命疾病之间都没明晰的因果联系。

国家药物滥用研究所的专家们是联邦反毒品行动中的科学力量，他们于6月公布了一份关于大麻对身体健康伤害的报告，认为大麻有若干病原风险，但它也十分坦白地否认，这些风险不存在着不确定性。尽管报告作者们坚信，大麻合法化不会使得更加多人遭受身体健康风险，但报告也说道大麻与肺癌之间的关系“不具体”，而且吸食大麻比吸烟者的风险要较低。The very heaviest users can experience symptoms of bronchitis, such as wheezing and coughing, but moderate smoking poses little risk. A 2012 study found that smoking a joint a day for seven years was not associated with adverse effects on pulmonary function. Experts say that marijuana increases the heart rate and the volume of blood pumped by the heart, but that poses a risk mostly to older users who already have cardiac or other health problems.尤为频密的大麻使用者不会有支气管炎的症状，比如气喘和腹痛，但一般用量的使用者风险较小。

一项2012年的研究指出，倒数七年每日吸食一支大麻卷烟会引发肺功能伤害。专家说道大麻不会减缓心率，以及心脏的供血量，但这主要是对早已患上心脏病和其他身体健康问题的老年使用者有风险。

How Addictive Is Marijuana?大麻的成瘾性有多低？Marijuana isn’t addictive in the same sense as heroin, from which withdrawal is an agonizing, physical ordeal. But it can interact with pleasure centers in the brain and can create a strong sense of psychological dependence that addiction experts say can be very difficult to break. Heavy users may find they need to take larger and larger doses to get the effects they want. When they try to stop, some get withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, sleeping difficulties and anxiety that are usually described as relatively mild.大麻的成瘾性与海洛因几乎无法相提并论。戒掉海洛因十分伤痛，是对身体的严峻考验。但是大麻可以与大脑中的幸福神经中枢对话，产生反感的精神倚赖，药物上瘾专家说道这种联系很难避免。

重度使用者可能会必须更大的剂量，才能超过自己想的效果。想停止使用时，不会经常出现易怒、睡眠中障碍和情绪等服用症状，这些症状一般来说被叙述为比较严重。The American Society of Addiction Medicine, the largest association of physicians specializing in addiction, issued a white paper in 2012 opposing legalization because marijuana is not a safe and harmless substance and marijuana addiction is a significant health problem.美国上瘾药物协会是仅次于的专攻上瘾药物的医生的组织，2012年，它公开发表了一份白皮书，赞成大麻合法化，因为“大麻不是一种安全性有害的物品”，而且大麻上瘾“是相当严重的身体健康问题”。

Nonetheless, that health problem is far less significant than for other substances, legal and illegal. The Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, said in a 1999 study that 32 percent of tobacco users become dependent, as do 23 percent of heroin users, 17 percent of cocaine users, and 15 percent of alcohol drinkers. But only 9 percent of marijuana users develop a dependence.不管怎样，这种身体健康问题远比其他合法或不合法物品所带给的身体健康问题要严重得多。药学研究中心是国家科学院的身体健康分部，它在1999年的一份研究报告中说道，32%的吸烟者不会成瘾，23%的海洛因使用者不会成瘾，17%的可卡因使用者不会成瘾，15%的饮酒者不会成瘾，但只有9%的大麻使用者不会成瘾。Although few marijuana users develop dependence, some do, according to the study. But they appear to be less likely to do so than users of other drugs (including alcohol and nicotine), and marijuana dependence appears to be less severe than dependence on other drugs.“大麻成瘾者人数很少，但显然有人不会成瘾，”这项研究说道，“但是和用于其他药品（还包括酒精与尼古丁）比起，大麻的上瘾亲率很低。

”There’s no need to ban a substance that has less than a third of the addictive potential of cigarettes, but state governments can discourage heavy use through taxes and education campaigns and help provide treatment for those who wish to quit.几乎没适当禁令一种上瘾亲率将近香烟1/3的东西，但各州政府可以通过征税重税和教育来避免人们大量用于大麻，并对必须服用的人获取化疗。Impact on Young People对年轻人的影响One of the favorite arguments of legalization opponents is that marijuana is the pathway to more dangerous drugs. But a wide variety of researchers have found no causal factor pushing users up the ladder of harm. While 111 million Americans have tried marijuana, only a third of that number have tried cocaine, and only 4 percent heroin. People who try marijuana are more likely than the general population to try other drugs, but that doesn’t mean marijuana prompted them to do so.赞成大麻合法化的人最常用的论据之一，就是大麻不会造成使用者尝试更加危险性的毒品。但各种普遍研究证明，大麻与使用者升级用于更加危险性的物品之间不不存在因果关系。1.11亿美国人都曾尝试用于大麻，尝试用于可卡因的人只有该数字的1/3，尝试用于海洛因的人只相等于这个数字的4%。

在用于大麻的人群中，尝试其他毒品的人数比例要比普通人群为低，但并不是大麻造成了此不道德。Marijuana “does not appear to be a gateway drug to the extent that it is the cause or even that it is the most significant predictor of serious drug abuse,” the Institute of Medicine study said. The real gateway drugs are tobacco and alcohol, which young people turn to first before trying marijuana.药学研究中心的报告说道，大麻“并不是一种入门药物，并不是药物相当严重欺诈的原因，甚至也不是药物相当严重欺诈的最重要伴随因素”。确实的入门药物是烟草和酒精，年轻人早于在尝试大麻之前就早已认识到它们了。

It’s clear, though, that marijuana is now far too easy for minors to obtain, which remains a significant problem. The brain undergoes active development until about age 21, and there is evidence that young people are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of marijuana.不过，对于未成年人来说，如今提供大麻似乎非常容易，这依然是个相当严重的问题。大脑发育活动要持续到21岁，有证据指出年轻人更容易不受大麻副作用影响。A long-term study based in New Zealand, published in 2012, found that people who began smoking heavily in their teens and continued into adulthood lost an average of eight I.Q. points by age 38 that could not be fully restored. A Canadian study published in 2002 also found an I.Q. loss among heavy school-age users who smoked at least five joints a week.2012年，一项新西兰的长年研究指出，从十几岁开始大量用于大麻，并在成年期持续用于大麻的人到38岁时智商不会上升8分，无法完全恢复。

另一项加拿大于2002年公布的研究指出，学龄期大量用于大麻（每周最少吸食五支大麻烟卷）不会造成智商上升。The case is not completely settled. The New Zealand study was challenged by a Norwegian researcher who said socio-economic factors may have played a role in the I.Q. loss. But the recent review by experts at the National Institute on Drug Abuse concluded that adults who smoked heavily in adolescence had impaired neural connections that interfered with the functioning of their brains. Early and frequent marijuana use has also been associated with poor grades, apathy and dropping out of school, but it is unclear whether consumption triggered the poor grades.这项结论未几乎定案。新西兰的研究受到挪威一个研究者的批评，他声称社会经济因素也有可能造成智商上升。

但国家药物滥用研究所最近的专家报告指出，从青春期就大量用于大麻的人的神经相连不会受到伤害，从而影响大脑功能。过早常常用于大麻也与成绩不欠佳、缺少兴趣和退学有关，但成绩不欠佳否由用于大麻造成，目前尚能不具体。Restricting marijuana to adults is more important now that Colorado merchants are selling THC, the drug’s active ingredient, in candy bars, cookies and other edible forms likely to appeal to minors. Experience in Colorado has shown that people can quickly ingest large amounts of THC that way, which can produce frightening hallucinations.目前，更加最重要的是把大麻的用于局限在成年人范围之内，科罗拉多州商人正在售卖含有四氢大麻酚（这是大麻的活性成分，全称THC）的糖果、饼干，以及其他可食用物品，这对未成年人来说有可能很有吸引力。

科罗拉多的经验指出人们可以通过食用途径，很快吸取大量THC，这有可能造成可怕的幻觉。Although marijuana use had been declining among high school students for more than a decade, in recent years it has started to climb, in contrast to continuing declines in cigarette smoking and alcohol use. Marijuana was found -- alone or in combination with other drugs -- in more than 455,000 patients visiting emergency rooms in 2011. Nearly 70 percent of the teenagers in residential substance-abuse programs run by Phoenix House, which operates drug and alcohol treatment centers in 10 states, listed marijuana as their primary problem.尽管十年多以来，大麻在高中生中的使用率早已上升，但近年又开始经常出现上升，与此同时，吸烟者和饮酒的比例仍然在上升。

2011年，有45.5万名急诊病人被找到用于大麻（以及其他药品）。“凤凰屋”(Phoenix House)在10个州中经营着毒品与吸毒化疗中心，在它所主办的家庭反欺诈毒品计划中，近70%的慈善机构青少年将大麻列入自己最初的问题。Those are challenges for regulators in any state that chooses to legalize marijuana. But they are familiar challenges, and they will become easier for governments to deal with once more of them bring legal marijuana under tight regulation.这些都是自由选择将大麻合法化的各州管理者所面对的挑战。

但这都是一些熟知的挑战，各州政府一旦将合法化的大麻置放严格管理之下，问题就不会显得更容易应付得多。

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