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O beautiful for spacious highs
迷人的無窮興奮感
As more Americans get high, medical drawbacks of marijuana come to the fore.
隨著越來越多的美國人吸食大麻，大麻的醫學弊端也浮出水面。
Waking up in the middle of a surgery is the stuff of nightmares.
在手術中醒來簡直是噩夢。
Your eyes squint open as a surgeon digs her scalpel into your abdomen.
當外科醫生將手術刀插入你的腹部時，你微微睜開了眼睛。
The operating team becomes frantic;
手術團隊全體瘋狂;
an anaesthesiologist rushes to administer a stronger dose.
麻醉師趕忙加了更大的劑量。
Though some such horror stories have made headlines,
盡管這么恐怖的故事上了頭條，
thanks to modern medicine that kind of situation is exceedingly rare.
但還好有現代醫學，這種情況極其罕見。
But the risk of it happening may be rising and anaesthesiologists are taking note.
不過發生這種情況的風險可能正在上升，麻醉師也注意到了這一點。
The culprit is not an invasion of evil doctors or a bad batch of drugs,
罪魁禍首不是醫德喪失，也不是劣質毒品，
but the rise in Americans’ casual use of a substance that many think is harmless: marijuana.
而是美國人頻繁使用一種許多人認為無害的物質:大麻。
A study published in 2019 found that patients who used marijuana on a daily or weekly basis
2019年發表的一項研究發現，
needed up to three times the typical anaesthesia dose to stay under
每天或每周使用大麻的患者在手術期間需要高達常規麻醉的三倍劑量
while they were in the operating theatre.
才能保持昏迷狀態。
Smoking weed before surgery can make patients confused, irritable
手術前抽大麻會讓病人感到混亂、易怒，
and sometimes even violent when they wake up.
有時醒來后甚至會有暴力行為。
But the problems do not end there.
但問題并未就此結束。
A working paper presented in October, which has yet to be peer-reviewed,
10月份提交的一份工作論文(尚未經過同行評審)表明，
suggests that weed can hinder recovery, too.
大麻也會影響術后恢復。
Of the nearly 35,000 Cleveland Clinic patients assessed, those who used marijuana
在克利夫蘭診所接受評估的近3.5萬名患者中，那些在手術前30天內
within 30 days of their operation experienced 14% more pain in the day after surgery
使用大麻的患者，術后一天的疼痛增加了14%，
and took 7% more prescription opioids to ease it.
并且多服用了7%的處方阿片類藥物來緩解疼痛。
Why this might be is, like anaesthesia itself, something of a mystery.
造成這種情況的原因，就像麻醉本身一樣，是個謎。
The problem is magnified by a growing number of Americans getting high.
由于越來越多的美國人吸大麻，這個問題被放大了。
This past November Maryland and Missouri joined 19 states and Washington DC,
去年11月，馬里蘭州和密蘇里州加入了19個州和華盛頓的行列，
in legalising recreational marijuana.
將娛樂用大麻合法化。
New York recently awarded its first cannabis retail licences;
紐約最近頒發了第一批大麻零售許可證;
in January Connecticut stores got the green light to start selling it.
今年1月，康涅狄格州的商店獲準開始銷售大麻。
The share of Americans who report smoking weed jumped from 7% in 2013—
報告稱吸食大麻的美國人比例從2013年的7%躍升至2022年的16%。
the year before legal sales began in Colorado, the pioneering state—to 16% in 2022.
2013年是大麻在科羅拉多州合法銷售開始的前一年。
