美国总统奥巴马每周电台演讲2015.09.27

Hi, everybody.  Today, September 26th, is “National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.”  It’s a day where you can safely, conveniently, and responsibly dispose of expired and unwanted prescription drugs at collection sites in your community.
 大家好！今天是9月26日，是全国处方药回收日。今天，你可以在你所在的社区回收点安全、便捷、负责任地处理家里过期和不需要的处方药。
 
Here’s why this matters.  More Americans now die every year from drug overdoses than they do in car crashes.  And most of those deaths aren’t due to drugs like cocaine or heroin – but rather prescription drugs.  In 2013 alone, overdoses from prescription pain medications killed more than 16,000 Americans.  And most young people who begin misusing prescription drugs don’t buy them in some dark alley – they get them from the medicine cabinet.
 为什么这件事这么重要。因为每年因过量用药导致的死亡人数比车祸中的死亡人数还要多。大多数导致死亡的原因还不是由于使用可卡因或海洛因之类的药物，而是处方药。仅仅在2013年一年，过量使用止疼处方药就导致1.6万人丧生。大多数的误用处方药上瘾的年轻人一开始并不是在黑药店买的，而是在自家医药箱里拿到的。
 
If that’s not a good enough reason to participate in “National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day,” here’s another.  Many prescription pain medications belong to the same class of drugs as heroin.  In fact, four in five heroin users started out by misusing prescription drugs.  And over the course of just one year, between 2013 and 2014, we saw a 33% increase in the number of heroin users.
 如果说这还够不上促使大家参与国家处方药回收日的充分理由，下面还有另外一个。大多数止疼处方药跟海洛因等毒品是归为一类的。实际上，3/4的海洛因上瘾者一开始都是从误用处方药引发的。翻阅2013年至2014年仅仅一年的卷宗，我们就会发现，海洛因上瘾患者增加了33%。
 
All of this takes a terrible toll on too many families, in too many communities, all across the country – big and small, urban and rural.  It strains law enforcement and treatment programs.  It costs all of us – in so many different ways.
 所有这些给太多的家庭、太多的社区乃至全国各地或大或小的地方、城区和郊区都带来了严重的伤害。我们的执法人员和康复治疗机构疲于奔命，我们在各个方面都承担着损失。
 
That’s why, four years ago, my Administration unveiled a Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan.  We’ve been partnering with communities to combat overdoses, and we’re seeing some promising results.  That’s why the budget I put forward this year would build on those efforts.  It would make critical investments in things like drug monitoring programs, equipping more first responders to save more lives, and expanding medication-assisted treatment programs – including in our prisons.
 因此，四年前，本届政府公布了一项《预防滥用处方药计划》。我们开始和社区一起合作与过量用药进行斗争，现在我们可以看到一些积极的效果了。也正是如此，我今天提出的预算方案也是基于这样的成果。其中包括对药物监测机构提供关键的资金支持，为更多急救人员提供装备挽救生命，扩大医疗援助恢复计划的覆盖范围，监狱也是包含在内的。
 
In fact, getting smarter about how we address substance use disorders is a vital part of reforming our criminal justice system.  Rather than keep spending billions of taxpayer dollars on needlessly long prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, we could save money and get better outcomes by getting treatment to those who need it.  And we could use some of the savings to make sure the brave men and women of law enforcement have the resources they need to go after drug kingpins and violent gangs, disrupt the flow of drugs into our country, and address the real threats to our communities.
 事实上，如何更明智地应对药品滥用是我们司法体系改革中非常重要的一个环节。与其花掉数十亿纳税人的钱将那些无暴力倾向的瘾君子毫无必要的长期监禁，还不如通过帮助他们戒毒治疗节省资金，得到更好的结果。我们还可以利用节省的资金武装执法人员，让他们有条件去打击那些大毒枭和暴力黑帮团伙，切断毒品流入我国的途径，处理那些真正给社会带来威胁的问题。
 
With no other disease do we expect people to wait until they’re a danger to themselves or others to self-diagnose and seek treatment.  So we should approach abuse as an opportunity to intervene, not incarcerate.  And we all have a role to play here.  Parents, we have to understand how important it is to talk to our kids, and to safely store medications in the house.  The medical community has to be engaged, too – because better prescribing practices will make a difference.
 对于其他的任何疾病，我们都不会等到病情严重到危害病人自身或他人安危的时候才开始检查和寻求治疗。因此我们应该利用机会及时干预药物滥用而不是让其入狱。我们都有一份责任。作为父母，我们必须了解告诉孩子们安全用药的重要性，妥善保存家庭的常用药品。医药行业也要参与其中，因为更妥善的处方药开具方式将带来很大改观。
 
And as a country, we have to keep working to reduce drug use through evidence-based treatment, prevention, and recovery.  Because research shows it works.  Courageous Americans show it works, every day.  That’s why the man I named to head the office of National Drug Control Policy – Michael Botticelli – is a man in long-term recovery himself.  He talks about it openly and honestly, precisely to strike down the shame and stigma that too often keep people from seeking care before it’s too late.
 从国家而言，我们应该继续通过有效的治疗、预防和康复方式减少药物滥用。研究结果证明这是有效的。勇敢的美国人民每天都在证明这一点。因此，我任命迈克尔·波提且利担任国家药品管制政策办公室主任，他是一位长期进行自我恢复的患者。但他一向公开、坦诚地谈论此事，丝毫不认为这有什么羞愧和耻辱，而太多的人正是由于这样的原因没有及时寻求治疗导致最后为时已晚。
 
This is something I’ll be talking about more in the weeks to come, in communities across the country.  Because it’s a challenge we can solve if we work together.
 这将是我在接下来的一周，在全国各地的社区会更多谈论的话题。因为只要我们共同努力，我们就可以应对这一挑战。
 
Thanks, and have a great weekend.
 谢谢大家！祝周末愉快！