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A couple hours outside London, thousands of cannabis plants are growing in this enormous glasshouse.
这个巨大的温室距离伦敦大约两小时车程，这里种植着成千上万株大麻。
Scientists here are testing different strains, processing raw plant matter,
这些大麻被该基地的科学家们用来测试不同的大麻品种，或是加工成植物原料，
and converting it into potent medicinal extracts.
转化为有效的药用提取物。
But this isn’t your typical grow house,
但这个温室并不是大家常见的那种大棚，
it’s a pharmaceutical research operation in the U.K.—
而是英国的一家制药研究公司——
which as it turns out, is the world’s largest supplier of medical grade cannabis.
事实证明，该公司还是世界上规模最大的医用大麻供应商。
Here, they’ve developed Epidiolex, a new medicine containing cannabidiol,
而且，他们就是在这个大棚里研发出了Epidiolex这种含有大麻二酚(CBD)，
a compound derived from cannabis, that’s shown potential to treat severe forms of epilepsy.
从大麻中提取出来的一种化合物，有望治疗严重癫痫的新药。
It’s the first of its kind to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration,
该药也是食品和药物管理局批准的首款此种类型的药物，
and is available to patients at special pharmacies in the United States.
目前，患者已经可以到特殊药房购买了。
But, cannabis is still a Schedule I drug in the US, meaning it has no medicinal value.
不过，大麻在美国仍属于一级管制药品，意思就是这种药并没有什么药用价值。
If doctors here want to study it further,
如果该基地的医生想进一步研究这种药，
they have to walk through a complicated patchwork of regulations.
就必须通过一系列错综复杂的审查。
And if they make it through the hurdles,
而且即便他们真的克服了所有障碍，
once the medicine arrives,
药到了之后，
it has to be stored in a roughly 750lb vault that's bolted to the floor and secured with a lock.
他们也必须将其储存在一个重约750磅，用螺栓固定在地板上还上了锁的保险库里。
But outside a doctor’s office, weed seems more accessible than ever.
但在医生的办公室外，大麻似乎比以往任何时候都更容易弄到手了。
As it's gotten easier for the average person to go buy cannabis at a dispensary,
如今，普通人很容易就能从药房买到大麻，
it's gotten even harder for scientists to be able to study it.
大麻研究却变得比以往更加困难了。
Cannabis is a controversial and complex plant,
因为大麻是一种有争议而且十分复杂的植物，
with over 100 unique chemicals called cannabinoids.
含有100多种独特却被统称为“大麻素”的化学物质。
There's very little that we really understand about a lot of these chemicals.
但我们对这些化学物质的了解十分有限。
We understand the effects of two of them, somewhat.
我们差不多只了解其中两种大麻素的影响。
Delta 9 THC, which is the chemical that produces the classic cannabis intoxication.
一种是Delta 9 THC，这是一种能够引起典型性大麻中毒的化学物质。
THC in relatively high doses can cause euphoria, hunger, anti-nausea properties, anti-pain properties.
较大剂量的Delta 9 THC能够引起欣快感、饥饿感、反胃和疼痛感。
Cannabidiol is very different.
大麻二酚则和它截然不同。
It doesn't produce any intoxication whatsoever and yet it has anti-inflammatory effects.
这种物质不会引起任何程度的中毒，甚至还有消炎的效果。
It is scientifically interesting because there is a receptor in the brain called the cannabinoid receptor
从科学的角度来看，这还挺有意思的，因为我们的大脑里有一种受体，叫“大麻素受体”，
that binds to these chemicals and produces a whole range of effects.
它能够与这些化学物质结合，产生一系列的效果。
And this network of receptors are found throughout the brain and body.
而且，这种受体网络遍布我们的整个大脑和整个身体。
So it's really a new frontier in many ways to understand its role in brain development and regulating mood and food intake and cognition.
所以，从很多方面来看，研究这种物质在大脑发育，情绪管理，食物摄入以及认知方面的影响都算是站到了行业的前沿。
It’s a complicated plant and just labeling it a medicine isn't sufficient.
大麻是一种很复杂的植物，仅仅给它贴个“药材”的标签是不够的。
Society has jumped ahead and is just moving on treating it like it's a medicine in lieu of this data.
但我们的民众没有看到这些数据，而抢先一步把它当药物来对待了。
Everybody's taking CBD and ointments and massages and oils and added to their coffee.
人人都在服用CBD、含大麻的药膏、按摩膏或精油，连喝咖啡都要往里加大麻。
We don't know anything about if it's absorbed by these routes of administration.
问题是，我们并不知道用这些方式摄入究竟能不能吸收。
I have no idea if it actually gets into your bloodstream at any level that would be meaningful.
我也不知道它是否真的进入了你的血液循环，我是说任何层面的，有意义的血液循环。
So it's critically important that we were able to conduct these studies
所以，能够开展这些研究非常重要，
so we can say what it works for at what concentration, which cannabinoids, and what it doesn't work for.
这样我们才能说它在什么样的浓度下才会起作用，起作用的是哪种大麻素以及它不具备哪些功能。
And right now we're severely hampered in our ability to conduct these studies.
现在，我们这方面的研究受到了严重的阻碍。
And that goes back to weed’s status as a Schedule I drug,
这又回到了大麻是一级管制药品的问题上——
a classification that puts it in the same line as heroin,
它和海洛因同属一级管制药品，
with no recognized medicinal value in the eyes of the U.S. federal government.
因为在美国联邦政府的眼里，大麻是没有公认的药用价值的。
Meanwhile, states have moved forward to legalize cannabis
与此同时，各州已经在推动大麻的合法化，
and patients with severe diseases are turning to their doctors for answers.
患有严重疾病的病人也在向他们的医生寻求答案。
I get patients coming into my clinic asking me all the time, “What do you think of this?”
我总是有病人来我的诊所问我，“你觉得这个怎么样？”
and “My friend tried it for this and it worked, and my other friend tried it for that,”
或者“我的朋友用这个药治过这种病，还真的管用了，我的另一个朋友还用它治过另一种病，”
and it seems to have these magical properties where it seems to work for almost everything.
好像大麻真有很多奇妙的特性，能够包治百病一样。
