2022年经济学人 在泰国，大麻成了合法调味品（在线收听）

Asia

亚洲版块

Cooking with cannabis

大麻烹饪

Pot cuisine

锅煮菜肴

THC is the new MSG

THC是新的味精

BAN LAO RUENG does not resemble a den of iniquity.

班老荣格不像一个藏污纳垢之地。

A two-hour drive from Bangkok, the Thai capital, the restaurant caters to families and old folk.

这家餐厅距离泰国首都曼谷两小时车程，餐厅主要服务家庭和老人。

Gauzy curtains frame the windows and doilies decorate bags of cookies on sale at the counter.

窗户上挂着薄纱窗帘，柜台上出售的饼干袋上装饰着小垫子。

The menu features such classics as tom yumsoup and khanom pang na moo(crispy pork toast).

菜单上有汤姆·尤姆苏普和卡农·庞纳穆（脆猪肉吐司）等经典菜肴。

Yet a closer look reveals the presence of an illicit ingredient: cannabis.

然而，仔细观察就会发现一种非法成分的存在：大麻。

Illicit, that is, until recently.

之前非法，也就是说，最近合法了。

For decades Thailand, like many other Asian countries, harshly punished anyone caught with the demon weed.

几十年来，泰国和其他许多亚洲国家一样，严惩任何与恶魔草有关的人。

But the government has turned over a new leaf.

但政府已经翻开了新的一页。

In 2019 the country became the first in Asia to legalise pot for medical purposes.

2019年，该国成为亚洲第一个将大麻用于医疗目的合法化的国家。

A year later the government announced that parts of the plant containing less than 0.2% THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis, could legally be used in cosmetics and food.

一年后，政府宣布，大麻中的精神活性化合物THC含量低于0.2%的部分植物可合法用于化妆品和食品中。

In November last year Ban Lao Rueng became the first restaurant in the country to serve cannabis-infused dishes.

去年11月，班老荣格成为该国第一家提供含大麻菜肴的餐厅。

At least a dozen more have since sprung up.

此后，至少又出现了十几家。

What accounts for the reversal?

是什么导致了这种逆转？

There is growing awareness in government that Thailand's punitive drug-control regime is ineffective.

政府越来越意识到泰国惩罚性的药物管制制度是无效的。

Relaxing cannabis laws was also politically expedient.

放松大麻法律在政治上也是权宜之计。

In order to make up the numbers to form a coalition, Thailand’s ruling party needed the support of Anutin Charnvirakul, the leader of a small party that campaigned to have the green stuff partially decriminalised.

为了获得足够的票数组成政治联盟，泰国执政党需要阿努丁·查恩维拉库的支持。查恩维拉库是一个小党派的领导人，该政党致力于让绿色材料部分合法化。

He was appointed deputy prime minister and health minister, and allowed to keep his promise.

他被任命为副总理和卫生部长，并且他被允许去履行诺言。

There is a long tradition in Thailand of cooking with cannabis.

泰国有着用大麻烹饪的悠久传统。

Thais began mixing the plant, which is native to Asia, into herbal remedies and then food centuries ago.

几百年前，泰国人开始将这种原产于亚洲的植物混合到草药和食品中。

Even after it was criminalised in 1934, many Thais carried on cooking with it.

即使在1934年它被定非法后，许多泰国人仍继续用它做饭。

Chakree Lapboonruang, a 30-something Bangkokian, says his father regularly tossed cannabis leaves into the pad gaprao(basil chicken stir-fry) he cooked for the family.

查克雷（一个30多岁的孟加拉人）说，他的父亲经常把大麻叶扔进他为家人做的pad gaprao（罗勒鸡炒菜）。

"When you have something tasty, [cannabis] makes it better," Mr Chakree says.

查克雷先生说：“当你吃到可口的东西时，大麻会让它变得更好。

"It's just like MSG, except it's natural."

它就像味精，只是它是天然的。”

Food-and-drink companies are seeing green.

食品和饮料公司看到了商机。

In April Ichitan, Thailand’s biggest teamaker, launched two drinks infused with terpene, a compound responsible for cannabis’s pong.

今年4月，泰国最大的饮品制造商Ichitan推出了两种含有萜烯的饮料，萜烯是一种与大麻相互作用的化合物。

The Pizza Company, a Thai fast-food chain, recently introduced "Crazy Happy Pizza"; its toppings include one deep-fried cannabis leaf.

泰国快餐连锁比萨饼公司最近推出了“狂欢比萨饼”；它的配料包括一片油炸大麻叶。

Weed is good for business, says Mr Chakree, an owner of Kiew Kai Ka, a trendy restaurant in Bangkok.

查克雷先生是曼谷一家时尚餐厅Kiew Kai Ka的老板，他说，大麻对生意有好处。

There is not enough THC in the food to make people high.

食物中的THC含量不足以使人兴奋。

Yet when customers eat dishes from his restaurant’s cannabis menu, he laughs, they "get hungrier".

然而，他笑着说，当顾客吃到餐馆大麻菜单上的菜时，他们“变得更饿了”。