MEXICO CITY — Lawmakers in Mexico approved a bill Wednesday night to legalize recreational marijuana, a milestone for the country, which is in the throes of a drug war and could become the world’s largest cannabis market, leaving the United States between two pot-selling neighbors.

周三晚上,墨西哥议员通过了一项法案,将娱乐性大麻合法化。这对墨西哥来说是一个里程碑。墨西哥正处于毒品战争的阵痛之中,可能会成为全球最大的大麻市场,使美国陷入两个贩卖大麻的邻国之间。

The 316-to-129 vote in Mexico’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, came more than two years after the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that the country’s ban on recreational marijuana was unconstitutional and more than three years after the country legalized medicinal cannabis.

墨西哥下议院众议院以316票对129票通过,是在墨西哥最高法院裁定该国禁止娱乐性大麻违宪的两年多之后,也是在该国将药用大麻合法化的三年多之后。
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The chamber approved the bill in general terms Wednesday evening before moving on to a lengthy discussion of possible revisions introduced by individual lawmakers. In its final form, though, the measure is widely expected to sail through the Senate before being sent to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has signaled support for legalization.

周三晚上,众议院大体上通过了这项法案,然后就个别立法者可能提出的修改意见进行了长时间的讨论。尽管如此,该法案的最终版本预计会在参议院顺利通过,然后提交给洛佩斯·奥布拉多尔总统,后者已经表示支持合法化。

The measure, as of Wednesday night, would allow adults to smoke marijuana and, with a permit, grow a small number of cannabis plants at home. It would also grant licenses for producers — from small farmers to commercial growers — to cultivate and sell the crop.

这项措施,从周三晚上开始,将允许成年人吸食大麻,并允许他们在家里种植少量的大麻植物。它还将向从小农户到商业种植户的生产商颁发种植和销售这种作物的许可证。

“Today we are in a historic moment,” said Simey Olvera, a lawmaker with the governing Morena party. “With this, the false belief that cannabis is part of Mexico’s serious public health problems is left behind.”

执政党莫雷纳党议员西米 · 奥尔维拉说“今天,我们正处在一个历史性时刻。这样一来,那些认为大麻是墨西哥严重公共卫生问题一部分的错误观点就不复存在了。”

If enacted, Mexico would join Canada and Uruguay in a small but growing list of countries that have legalized marijuana in the Americas, adding further momentum to the legalization movement in the region. In the United States, Democrats in the Senate have also promised to scrap federal prohibition of the drug this year.

如果获得通过,墨西哥将加入加拿大和乌拉圭的行列,成为在美洲合法化大麻的国家之一,这个名单虽然不多,但正在不断扩大,进一步推动了该地区的大麻合法化运动。在美国,参议院的民主党人也承诺今年废除联邦政府对大麻的禁令。

For “Mexico, given its size and its worldwide reputation for being damaged by the drug war, to take this step is enormously significant,” said John Walsh, director of drug policy for the Washington Office on Latin America, a U.S. advocacy group. “North America is heading toward legalization.”

美国倡导组织华盛顿拉丁美洲办公室的毒品政策主任约翰 · 沃尔什说“墨西哥来说,考虑到它的规模,以及它在世界范围内因毒品战争而受损的声誉,采取这一步骤意义重大。北美也正走向合法化。”

In Mexico, however, the bill has proved divisive.

然而,在墨西哥,这项法案却引起了分歧。

Critics say it is unlikely to make a serious dent in Mexico’s soaring rates of cartel-fueled violence, and argue that it is unwelcome in a country where nearly two-thirds of people oppose legalizing marijuana, according to recent polling.

批评人士称,这不太可能对墨西哥不断飙升的贩毒集团引发的暴力事件产生重大影响。根据最近的民意调查,墨西哥近三分之二的人反对大麻合法化,批评人士认为这不受欢迎。

“It’s a political fad,” said Damián Zepeda Vidales, a senator with the opposition National Action Party and one of the bill’s most vocal detractors. “It’s a matter for politicians, for an elite that’s now empowered in Congress and in government that wants to impose a way of life on society.”

反对党国家行动党参议员达米安 · 塞佩达 · 维达莱斯说,“这只是一种政治风潮。”维达莱斯是该法案最强烈的批评者之一。“这是政客们的事,是国会和政府授权的精英们的事,他们想把一种生活方式强加于社会。”

Security experts agree that the law’s practical impact on violence will likely be minimal: With 15 American states having now legalized marijuana, they argue, the crop has become a relatively small part of the Mexican drug trafficking business, with cartels focusing on more profitable products like fentanyl and methamphetamines.

安全专家一致认为,该法律对暴力的实际影响可能微乎其微: 他们认为,随着美国15个州现在已经使大麻合法化,大麻作物已经成为墨西哥非法毒品贸易业务中相对较小的一部分,贩毒集团专注于更有利可图的产品,如芬太尼和甲基苯丙胺。

“We shouldn’t overestimate the power of this bill,” said Falko Ernst, senior Mexico analyst for the International Crisis Group, a global research organization. The bill will not “substantially change the dynamics and drivers of lethal conflict in Mexico.”

全球研究机构国际危机组织的高级墨西哥分析师法尔科 · 恩斯特说,“我们不应该高估这项法案的影响力。”。该法案不会“从根本上改变墨西哥致命冲突的动态和驱动因素”

Proponents of legalizing marijuana contend that the bill is too limited in scope, even if it represents a symbolic breakthrough in the push to end a drug war that has cost an estimated 150,000 lives, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

大麻合法化的支持者认为,该法案的适用范围过于狭窄,尽管根据美国对外关系委员会的数据,该法案代表着结束毒品战争的一个象征性突破,这场战争已导致约15万人丧生。
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Legalization “is an important step toward building peace in a country like ours, where for at least a decade or more, we’ve been immersed in an absurd war,” said Lucía Riojas Martínez, a Mexican congresswoman who made headlines in 2019 when she gave a rolled joint to the country’s interior minister, Olga Sánchez Cordero, after delivering a speech in Congress.

合法化“是在像我们这样的国家建设和平的重要一步,至少十年或更长时间以来,我们一直陷入于一场荒谬的战争之中,”墨西哥国会女议员露西亚 · 里奥哈斯 · 马丁内斯说。2019年,她在国会发表演讲后,把一根卷好的大麻烟递给内政部长奥尔加 · 桑切斯 · 科尔德罗,成为了媒体关注的焦点。

“But this bill falls short of achieving that,” she added.

“但是这项法案没有达到这个目标,”她补充说。
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It is also unclear how much the law will benefit Mexico’s poor farmers, who have grown marijuana for decades and often end up in the middle of conflicts between warring drug trafficking groups.

目前还不清楚这项法律对墨西哥贫穷的农民有多大好处,他们种植大麻已经有几十年的历史了,经常陷入非法毒品贸易组织之间的冲突。

The bill mandates that small farmers and Indigenous people be given priority in licensing, but stipulates only that these vulnerable groups can be granted more than one license.

该法案规定小农户和土著人农场主可以优先获得许可证,但只规定这些弱势群体可以获得不止一个许可证。

And without additional state policies to tackle organized crime, particularly in areas where marijuana is grown, said Mr. Ernst, such well-intentioned requirements may not have a meaningful impact for farmers in the regions controlled by cartels.

恩斯特先生说,如果没有额外的国家政策来打击有组织犯罪,特别是在种植大麻的地区,这种善意的要求可能对贩毒集团控制的地区的农民没有实际的影响。

“For most areas where you have these high-conflict settings,” said Mr. Ernst, there are not enough state resources to truly take on organized crime groups.

恩斯特先生说: “在大多数冲突频发的地区,没有足够的国家资源来真正打击有组织的犯罪集团。”

But many entrepreneurs, at least, are seeing green.

但至少许多企业家看到了前景。

With more than 120 million people, Mexico would represent the largest marijuana market in the world by population. The crop could become big business in Mexico, a potential financial lift for an economy badly battered by the coronavirus crisis.

墨西哥人口超过1.2亿,将成为世界上人口最多的大麻市场。这种作物可能成为墨西哥的大生意,对于遭受新冠疫情重创的墨西哥经济而言,这是一个潜在的财政支持。

“It’s an excellent economic, natural, ethical and moral solution for a country in need,” said Juan Sánchez Mejorada, chief executive of Ceres Soluciones, a medicinal cannabis company.

药用大麻公司的首席执行官胡安 · 桑切斯 · 梅乔拉达说,“对于一个需要帮助的国家来说,这是一个极好的经济、自然、伦理和道德解决方案。”

“Doing this right could give Mexico an economic surplus,” he said.

他表示: “做好这一点,可能会给墨西哥带来经济盈余。”

This kind of fervor makes pro-marijuana activists nervous.

这种热情让支持大麻的活动家们感到紧张。

“It’s a law for the rich, and marijuana should be for everybody,” said Ivania Medina Rodríguez, 18, a local activist. “They’re going for business before rights.”

18岁的当地活动人士伊万尼亚 · 梅迪纳 · 罗德里格斯说,“这是面向富人的法律,大麻应该对每个人都适用。他们重商轻权。”

Dressed as a giant cannabis leaf, Ms. Medina was attending a protest last year that began at a small marijuana plantation outside the Senate offices in Mexico City, where locals now regularly come to smoke pot while the police turn a blind eye.

去年,梅迪纳把自己打扮成一片巨大的大麻叶,参加了一场抗议活动。抗议活动始于墨西哥城参议院办公室外的一个小型大麻种植园,当地人现在经常来这里吸大麻,而警方对此视而不见。

Some activists fear that the law will overly favor large corporations that could obtain what the bill terms an “integral license,” giving them access to the entire marijuana supply chain, from seed to sale, while leaving small-scale producers and vendors locked out of the lucrative market.

一些活动人士担心,这部法律会过分偏袒那些能够获得法案所称的“整体许可证”的大公司,让他们能够接触到从种子到销售的整个大麻供应链,而让小规模生产商和销售商被排除在利润丰厚的市场之外。

The bill in Mexico would allow individual users to carry up to 28 grams of marijuana and grow six cannabis plants at home. Cannabis could also be purchased by adults over 18 at authorized businesses, and grown at larger scale by licensed groups. Medical marijuana, which Mexico legalized in 2017, would be regulated separately by the health ministry, which published rules in January covering the growing and research of medicinal cannabis.

墨西哥的法案允许个人最多携带28克的大麻,并允许在家中最多种植6株大麻。18岁以上的成年人也可以在授权企业购买大麻,并由获得许可的团体大规模种植。墨西哥于2017年将医用大麻合法化,并由卫生部单独监管。卫生部在今年1月份发布了有关药用大麻种植和研究的规定。

Local advocates say the restrictions on possession will limit the bill’s impact, particularly for low-income consumers, who may fall prey to extortion from the police, a regular occurrence in Mexico.

当地的倡导者说,对拥有权的限制将限制该法案的影响,特别是对低收入消费者,他们可能会成为警察勒索的牺牲品,这在墨西哥是经常发生的。

“We live in a country where corruption and extortion is the norm,” said Zara Snapp, co-founder of the RIA Institute, a Mexico-city based drug policy research and advocacy group.

位于墨西哥城的毒品政策研究和倡导组织 RIA 研究所的联合创始人扎拉 · 斯纳普说“我们生活在一个以腐败和敲诈勒索为常态的国家。”
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Still, for many proponents in Mexico, approving the bill is a notable step in the long journey toward full legalization.

尽管如此,对于墨西哥的许多支持者来说,批准该法案是迈向全面合法化的漫长旅程中值得关注的一步。

“It’s like when you’re running a marathon and you haven’t started,” said Mr. Sánchez, the marijuana businessman. “It means firing the starting gun, even if we still have 42 kilometers left to go.”

大麻生意人桑切斯先生说“就像你在马拉松比赛,你还没有开始跑。而这项法律意味着打响了发令枪,即使我们还有42公里的路要跑。”