Washington and Colorado, have made it legal for recreational use, which is the ultimate

華盛頓州和科羅拉多州已將娛樂性使用合法化，這是

goal for groups trying to fully legalize weed. Colorado did this more than 8 months ago,

對於試圖將大麻完全合法化的團體來說，這是一個目標。科羅拉多州在 8 個多月前就實現了這一目標、

and the numbers are in so we can finally look at some of the effects of legalizing weed.

我們終於可以看看大麻合法化的一些影響了。

First off, let’s look at the givens.

首先，讓我們來看看先決條件。

Legalizing weed adds tax revenue; That’s obvious. Colorado expects a $98 million dollars

大麻合法化會增加稅收，這是顯而易見的。科羅拉多州預計將有 9800 萬美元

jump in tax revenue from weed sales this year alone. Legalizing weed also adds jobs. It’s

僅今年一年，來自大麻銷售的稅收收入就猛增了 1.5 億美元。大麻合法化還增加了就業機會。這是

estimated by the Marijuana Industry Group that about 10,000 people now work in the weed

據大麻產業集團估計，目前約有 10,000 人在大麻產業工作。

industry in Colorado, nearly 2,000 of which started in the first half of this year. Most

今年上半年，科羅拉多州有近 2,000 家工廠開工。大多數

were already working in Colorado’s medical marijuana industry prior to 2014. And the

在 2014 年之前，他們已經在科羅拉多州的醫用大麻行業工作。而

weed industry only accounts for about .04 percent of Colorado’s workforce. So, those

除草行業只佔科羅拉多州勞動力的 0.04%。是以，那些

numbers shouldn’t be overblown, but sales are good and further job growth is expected.

數字不應被過分誇大，但銷售情況良好，就業有望進一步增長。

Those are the things that we know for sure. They have a direct causal relationship to

這些都是我們可以肯定的。它們與

the change in the law. But there are also things that we can’t directly tie to law.

法律的變化。但也有一些我們無法直接與法律掛鉤的事情。

These have a corollary relationship, but are still worth mentioning as they may allay some

這些都有必然的關係，但仍然值得一提，因為它們可能會緩解某些問題。

fears.

害怕。

Anti-legalization groups feared that legalizing recreational weed would lead to an increase

反合法化組織擔心，娛樂性大麻合法化會導致大麻產量增加

in driving fatalities. There is no direct evidence of that. In fact, the number of driving

駕駛死亡事故。沒有直接證據證明這一點。事實上，駕駛

fatalities were down in the first half of 2014. They also feared that there would be

2014 年上半年死亡人數有所下降。他們還擔心

an increase in hard drug use. Again, people are actually using less hard drugs now than

硬性毒品使用量增加。同樣，現在人們使用的硬性毒品實際上比

they were ten years ago. They feared that more high school aged kids would be smoking

十年前，他們也是如此。他們擔心會有更多的高中生吸菸

weed. Again: no. And they feared that there would be a spike in violent crime and crime

雜草。還是那句話：沒有。他們擔心暴力犯罪和犯罪率會激增

in general. There hasn’t been. The crime rate is actually trending down.

一般來說。並沒有。犯罪率實際上呈下降趨勢。

So, does that mean that weed makes our highways, high schools and streets safer? No. Like I

那麼，這是否意味著大麻會讓我們的高速公路、高中和街道更加安全呢？不。

said, there is no direct connection between legalizing recreational marijuana and any

說，娛樂用大麻合法化與以下任何方面都沒有直接聯繫

of these statistics. We can’t prove causation, but we can show that since weed became legal,

這些統計數據。我們無法證明因果關係，但我們可以證明，自從大麻合法化以來、

things have not gotten worse.

事情並沒有變得更糟。

So, are there any proven negatives to come out of these first 8 months?

那麼，在這最初的 8 個月裡，是否有任何已被證實的負面因素？

Yes, sort of. Not really. There is some anecdotal evidence that the general public isn’t quite

是的，算是吧。其實不然。有一些軼事證據表明，一般公眾並不太

ready for edible marijuana. One man ate edible marijuana and then shot his wife. Another

準備食用大麻。一名男子吃了可食用大麻後槍殺了自己的妻子。另一個

man ate edible marijuana and then fell off of a balcony. The police think that marijuana

一名男子吃了可食用的大麻，然後從陽臺上摔了下來。警方認為大麻

played a role in both incidents. And the number of children who have been admitted to Children’s

在這兩起事件中都起了作用。而兒童醫院收治的兒童人數也在不斷增加。

Hospital of Colorado in Aurora due to consumption of marijuana in the first sixth months of

奧羅拉市科羅拉多醫院的一名病人，因在《世界人權宣言》生效後的前 6 個月吸食大麻而死亡。

the year is already more than all of last year. Again, this evidence is largely anecdotal,

已經超過了去年全年。同樣，這些證據在很大程度上也是傳聞、

but it has been enough for the state to start looking at its THC limits and labeling requirements

但這已足以讓該州開始審視其四氫大麻酚限制和標籤要求

for edible goods. On the whole, the experiment appears to be a success, but we won’t know

食用商品。總的來說，實驗似乎是成功的，但我們還不知道

for sure until it has been in practice for many more years.

在實踐多年後才能確定。