美国国家公共电台 NPR Mexico Looks To Be Next To Legalize Marijuana

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Mexico, like many U.S. states, may soon legalize marijuana. The president-elect's leftist party, now a majority in Mexico's Congress, has introduced legislation allowing citizens to grow and sell marijuana. And so it becomes a test, a country facing a serious problem with organized drug gangs tries to curb¹ their activities by making one of their businesses legal. NPR's Carrie Kahn reports.

CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE²: Senator Olga Sanchez Cordero of the leftist Morena party told lawmakers that Mexico's decade-long war on drugs has killed 235,000 people and left 40,000 more disappeared.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

OLGA SANCHEZ CORDERO: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "We don't want any more victims, no more mourning families, no more bloodshed," she said. Sanchez Cordero will be Mexico's interior minister once President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador takes office December 1. She says militarization and criminalization of the problem is not working.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SANCHEZ CORDERO: Muchas gracias.

(APPLAUSE)

KAHN: The loud applause she received isn't a surprise given that her Morena party holds majorities in both houses of Congress. If passed, the new law will allow companies to grow and sell marijuana and let individuals cultivate plants for private use, up to 20 year. It's unclear, though, whether the incoming president is onboard. When asked at a recent press conference, Lopez Obrador would only say he respects lawmakers' right to give it a try.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

PRES-ELECT ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "This is all part of democracy," says Lopez Obrador. "I respect Congress' initiatives," he said, while avoiding sharing his opinion. Mexico's Senate majority coordinator³ Ricardo Monreal says legalizing pot will reduce prison populations and stem crime. And he says it will bring needed revenue to the government, which will regulate all marijuana production and sales.

RICARDO MONREAL: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "It's better to have it regulated than be underground," says Monreal. "Besides, he adds, these days marijuana is out in the open."

(SOUNDBITE OF BASKETBALL BOUNCING)

KAHN: A few young guys play basketball in the small park in downtown Mexico City. Others relax on benches and pass around joints⁵ and pipes.

EL CHINITO: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: (Speaking Spanish).

EL CHINITO: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: This 22-year-old man would only tell me his nickname, El Chinito, or Curly, since he's selling marijuana illegally in the park. He gets about $4 a joint⁴.

EL CHINITO: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "I don't feel like marijuana is a bad vice⁶ - not like others, like alcohol, which makes you aggressive," he says. He says he'll be glad when it's legal. Then he won't have to pay the cops to let him sell in the park. One of the basketball players, 25-year-old Benjamin Lopez, says he doesn't want pot to be legal.

BENJAMIN LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "I just worry about the young people growing up with drugs. It's not good for them," he says. Opponents to legalization, like Leonardo Garcia of the National Union of Parents, agrees and says legalization leads to addiction⁷. He says it's a lie that making pot legal will lower crime rates.

LEONARDO GARCIA: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "In the end, crime will continue as always," he says. Senator Olga Sanchez Cordero disagrees. She says it's time to try something different to save Mexico from so much violence and poverty.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SANCHEZ CORDERO: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "We just want to live in a peaceful Mexico," she says. Morena party officials say they hope to have a bill on the new president's desk before the end of the year. Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Mexico City.

1 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

2 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。

3 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

4 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。

5 joints   

接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语）

参考例句：

• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on gas mains. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在煤气的总管道上了。
• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on steam pipes. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在蒸气管道上了。

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 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。