大麻THC企业如何应对近乎全面的禁令

NPR。

NPR.

娱乐用大麻在美国一半的州是合法的。

Recreational weed is legal in half of all The US states.

但即使在那些不合法的州，你也会看到烟店和酒类商店在卖带有那种标志性星形叶子的产品。

But even in places where it's not, you'll still see smoke shops and liquor stores selling things with that signature star shaped leaf.

THC饮料、电子烟、食品，所有这些之所以合法，是因为2018年农业法案中的一个漏洞。

THC drinks, vapes, edibles, all of those are legal because of a loophole in the 2018 farm bill.

这项两党立法允许了从大麻中提取的低含量THC。

That bipartisan legislation allowed a low level of THC derived from hemp.

但在实验室处理后，这种低含量的THC最终可能会产生类似大麻的效果。

But when it's treated in a lab, that low level of THC can end up mimicking the effects of weed.

这就是我们得到delta-8、delta-9的原因。

That's how we got delta eight, delta nine.

我想现在已经有delta-11了。

I think we're up to delta eleven now.

可能我们永远也见不到delta十二了。

Probably, we'll never see delta twelve.

就像《速度与激情》系列一样。

Much like the Fast and Furious franchise.

但不同的是，这个系列是演员老化、创意枯竭，而这次崩溃完全是政府的责任，因为国会正在通过更严格的THC禁令来堵住这个漏洞。

But instead of an aging cast and a desperate need for new ideas, this collapse is all on the government because congress is putting an end to that loophole with a harsher ban on THC.

这里是《Planet Money》的指标节目。

This is the indicator from Planet Money.

我是Adrian Ma。

I'm Adrian Ma.

今天和我一起的是来自纳什维尔WPLN的记者Mariana Bacayao。

And today, I'm joined by Mariana Bacayao, a reporter from WPLN in Nashville.

你好。

Hey there.

你好。

Hi.

很高兴来到这里。

Great to be here.

是的，那个禁令将意味着大麻产业最受欢迎的产品要终结了。

And, yeah, that ban will mean an end to the hemp industry's most popular products.

这是一个价值280亿美元的产业，可能在年底前就消失。

That's a $28,000,000,000 industry that could be gone by the end of the year.

很多企业不得不做出艰难的选择。

A lot of businesses are having to make hard choices.

所以在今天的节目中，我们去了一趟田纳西州，那里最近的一项州禁令基本上禁止了所有那些大麻衍生的THC产品，影响到了从零售商到农民的每个人。

So on today's show, we're taking a trip to Tennessee where a recent state ban on basically all those hemp derived THC products has impacted everyone from retailers to farmers.

本周的《Up First》节目，我们讨论经济。

This week on Up First, we talk about the economy.

卡车、火车和拖拉机都靠柴油运行，而现在柴油价格创下历史新高，距离中期选举不到五十天。

Trucks, trains and tractors run on diesel, which is now priced at record highs with less than fifty days until the midterm elections.

所以接下来的六周将会非常紧张。

So the next six weeks are gonna be intense.

让Up First陪你度过每一个早晨，每天给你讲三件你需要知道的事。

Let Up get you through it one morning at a time with three stories you need to know each day.

在NPR应用或你收听播客的任何地方，收听Up First。

Listen to Up First on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

如果宇宙的诞生被谱成音乐，那会是什么声音？

If the creation of the universe was translated into music, what would it sound like?

关于如何理解那些难以理解之事的想法。

Ideas about how to make sense of the incomprehensible.

总的来说，科学的大部分其实是直观的。

Most of science in general is actually intuitive.

这是TED Radio Hour播客的内容。

That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast.

在NPR应用或你收听播客的任何地方收听。

Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

艾美奖之夜对很多我们非常喜欢的节目来说，是个重要的夜晚。

The Emmys were a big night for a lot of shows we really love.

《皮特》和《普利伯斯》都拿了奖，《寡妇湾》更是大获全胜。

The Pitt and Pluribus picked up awards, and Widow's Bay really cleaned up.

我们会告诉你为什么我们对这一届的获奖名单非常满意，还有流行文化欢乐时光的回顾。

We'll tell you why we're quite happy with here's crop of winners and a recap on pop culture happy hour.

可以通过NPR应用或任何你收听播客的平台收听。

Listen via the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

那么，玛丽安娜，你所在的州已经尝到了经济中那些德尔塔产品下架的滋味。

So, Mariana, you're from a state that's already gotten a taste of an economy with the deltas pulled off the shelf.

在田纳西州，一项禁止大多数含THC的大麻产品的禁令已于七月生效，所以我们其实已经生活在一个后大麻世界了。

Here in Tennessee, a ban on most THC hemp products took effect in July, so we're already kind of living in a post hemp world.

去年，这里的立法者抢在国会之前，禁止了全谱CBD和像可吸食的花蕾这类东西。

Last year, lawmakers here got ahead of congress by banning full spectrum CBD and things like smokeable flower.

可吸食的花蕾？

Smokeable flowers?

我脑子里有个画面，但我想到的是有人点着一朵水仙花来抽。

I have an image in my head of what that is, but I'm picturing somebody, like, just like lighting up a daffodil.

不完全是这样。

Not quite.

它看起来更接近你平时想到的大麻的样子。

It looks a little bit closer to what you would think of when you think of just regular weed.

它是一种大麻花。

It's a it's a type of hemp flower.

点燃后，它的效果和大麻差不多。

When you light it, it mimics the effects of weed.

明白了。

Got it.

总之，大麻对那里的很多农民来说是一种经济作物。

Anyway, hemp has been a cash crop for a lot of farmers there.

比如李·克拉布特里。

Take Lee Crabtree.

我在田纳西州里迪维尔他的农场见了他。

I met up with him on his farm in Reedyville, Tennessee.

他告诉我，他不得不重新开始种植更传统的季节性作物，比如黑莓。

He told me that he's had to return to growing more traditional seasonal crops like blackberries.

他从藤上摘下一颗大的。

He picks a big one off the vine.

很难判断它们什么时候完全成熟。

It's hard to tell when they're exactly ripe.

通常，如果苍蝇在吃它，你就知道它甜了。

Usually, the flies are eating it, you know it's sweet.

李的农场大部分曾经种的是CBD品种的大麻，但新的州法律让他的产品销售变得非法。

Much of Lee's farm had been devoted to a CBD variety of hemp, but that new state law has made selling his products illegal.

所以，以前是一排排的大麻，现在李种的是黑莓和玉米。

So where there were once rows of hemp, Lee now has blackberries and corn.

希望这些能卖得好。

Hoping that it sells good.

在里面，李还保留着以前制作CBD食品的工业厨房。

And inside, Lee still has industrial kitchen from when he made his own CBD goodies.

现在他妻子斯泰西正在用那个大不锈钢台面切葡萄，准备做鸡肉沙拉。

Now his wife Stacy is using the large stainless steel counter to chop grapes for her chicken salad.

在THC禁令出台前的几个月里，她就开始在路那边的农贸市场卖她的鸡肉沙拉和芝士三明治了。

In the months leading up to the THC ban, she started selling her chicken salad and pimento cheese sandwiches at a farmer's market up the road.

斯泰西喜欢做饭。

Stacy likes to cook.

我不知道如果她天天都得做饭，她还能喜欢多久。

I don't know how much longer she liked to cook when she has to do it all the time.

他们生意的新篇章就是尝试新东西。

This new chapter of their business is all about trying new things.

和许多以前种大麻的农民一样，李不得不转型，但他说赚的钱少了。

Like many former hemp farmers, Lee has had to pivot, but he says he's making less money.

你知道，

You know,

以前CBD火过一阵子，那会儿确实挺好的。

back when CBD was was huge there for a minute, it was it was really good there for for a moment.

它也有过风光的时候。

It had its time in the sun.

李说他理解对这个行业加强监管的必要性，这个行业很大程度上一直是在漏洞里运作的。

Lee says he understands the need for greater regulation on an industry that has largely existed inside a loophole.

立法者表示，这些规定保护了那些可能不知道产品有多容易让人醉的消费者。

Lawmakers say these regulations protect consumers who might not know how intoxicating a product is.

下面请听田纳西州共和党众议员威廉·兰伯特的发言。

Here's Tennessee Republican representative William Lambert.

如果有人买了一瓶雪碧，他们期望得到的是雪碧，而不是啤酒。

If someone, you know, buys a Sprite, they expect to get a Sprite, not a beer.

如果他们买了啤酒，他们期望得到的是啤酒，而不是一瓶龙舌兰。

If they buy a beer, they expect to get a beer, not a bottle of tequila.

如果他们买了一瓶龙舌兰，他们当然不希望得到的是雪碧。

If buy a bottle of tequila, they expect not, you know, not expect not to get a Sprite.

所以我们希望消费者能清楚地知道他们买到的是什么。

And so we wanted customers out there to know exactly what they were getting.

但即使农民们可能认同这个道理，他们也担心法律在纠正问题上走得太远了。

But even if farmers likely agree with the logic, they worry the law has gone too far in overcorrecting.

如果李的传统作物卖不出去，他说他就得找工作了。

If Lee's more traditional crops don't sell, he says he'll be looking for a job.

这也是那些因新规而被解雇的大型大麻公司员工的现实。

That's also the reality for employees of larger hemp companies who have been laid off because of the new regulations.

其他公司则跨州搬到北卡罗来纳州。

Other companies are moving across state lines to North Carolina.

比如艾米丽·沙弗里克。

Like Emily Shafrich.

她的公司Burning Acre从田纳西州的哥伦比亚搬到了北卡罗来纳州，以继续种植。

Her company, Burning Acre, moved from Columbia, Tennessee to North Carolina to keep growing.

把整个零售、制造和批发供应链连根拔起搬到另一个州，确实要花不少钱。

To uproot to your entire, you know, retail manufacturing and wholesale supply chain to another state is definitely, racks up a little bit of a bill.

但即使艾米丽准备在老家和新种植地之间往返近300英里，她说她在应对新法律方面还算幸运。

But even as Emily prepares to commute nearly 300 miles between her home state and the new growing site, She says she's been lucky in navigating the new law.

很多其他企业都不得不彻底关门了。

Many other businesses have had to close entirely.

而对于已经搬走的公司来说，更大的威胁还在后面。

And there's a bigger threat on the horizon for companies that have moved.

他们可能把整个生意都搬过去，结果发现今年十二月这个行业就彻底完了。

They could uproot their whole business only to find the industry is completely decimated this December.

那时候，针对那些含THC的大麻产品的全国性禁令就要生效了。

That's when that national ban on those THC hemp products is poised to take effect.

我觉得这就像是一场灭绝级别的事件。

I've described it as an extinction level event.

这是大麻经济学家博·惠特尼说的。

That's hemp economist, Bo Whitney.

他说，在美国大约一半的州，大麻还不合法，这项禁令基本上意味着市场上不会有任何含THC的产品了。

He says for the roughly half of all US states where marijuana isn't legal, the ban means basically no THC products on the market.

但在大麻合法的地区，消费者如果没有Delta-8这种更便宜的替代品，可能还是会感受到价格上涨的压力。

But for places where marijuana is legal, consumers could still feel the pinch without cheaper alternatives like Delta eight.

因为大麻只能在某些州种植，而汉麻可以在任何地方种植和运输。

Because marijuana can only be grown in certain states, while hemp can be grown and shipped anywhere.

所以你可以建立大规模的生产，降低成本，然后运往全美各地。

And so you can develop these massive operations and lower your costs and then ship them throughout The United States.

而大麻这边，他们必须逐州建立供应链，无法像汉麻那样实现规模经济。

On the marijuana side, they have to set up individual supply chains on a state by state basis, and they don't have the economies of scale that hemp does.

规模经济。

Economies of scale.

你们，我们亲爱的《指标》听众，可能都知道这个。

And you, our dear indicator listeners, probably know this.

在经济学中，这是指生产大量同种商品的企业所享有的成本优势，使得每件商品的成本显著降低。

In economics, that's a cost savings advantage for businesses that produce a lot of the same good, resulting in the cost per good being significantly lower.

这些节省下来的成本，企业可以转嫁给消费者，使得汉麻衍生的食品比大麻食品便宜得多。

And those are savings that companies can pass on to their consumers, making hemp derived edibles a lot cheaper than their weed counterparts.

在联邦禁令下，可能不只是消费者会感到压力。

Consumers may not be the only ones feeling a pinch under a federal ban.

对很多州的预算来说，失去大麻产业可能意味着失去一大笔税收来源。

For a lot of state budgets, losing the hemp industry could mean losing a good source of tax revenue.

就在田纳西州，这已经造成了5400万美元的州预算缺口。

Just here in Tennessee, it's meant a $54,000,000 hole in the state budget.

影响远不止大麻素产业本身。

The the impact goes way beyond just the cannabinoid industry.

博说这可能会危及数十万个工作岗位，但这些企业还是有一些希望的。

Beau says it could put hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk, but there is some hope for these businesses.

白宫已敦促国会推迟或修改这项禁令，到目前为止，参议院表示支持。

The White House has urged Congress to delay or revise the ban, and so far, the Senate is on board.

现在众议院也同意了。

Now the house is too.

他们本月早些时候投票决定推迟这项禁令。

They voted to postpone the ban earlier this month.

但这些举措只会将禁令从11月推迟到12月，仅推迟一个月。

But these moves would only delay it by a month from November to December.

这让一些田纳西州的农民回归本行，种植纤维大麻，用来制作从绳索到包装再到汽车零件的各种东西。

That has some Tennessee farmers getting back to their roots, growing a fiber variety of hemp that's used to make everything from rope to packaging to car parts.

在田纳西州的斯普林菲尔德，农民比尔·科尔宾正在为法国公司Hemp-准备他的第一批纤维大麻作物。

In Springfield, Tennessee, farmer Bill Corbin is preparing his first crop of fiber hemp for the French company Hemp-

它。

It.

这个行业里没有人不知道这一天会来。

There's not a person in this industry that didn't know this day was coming.

比尔说这个行业本来就不可持续，他同意立法者打击人们娱乐性使用大麻衍生物的做法。

Bill says the industry was unsustainable, and he agrees with lawmakers' efforts to tamp down on people using hemp derivatives recreationally.

但他担心那些药用消费者。

But he's worried about consumers who use it medicinally.

就拿我来说吧。

Take me, for example.

显然，我年纪大了。

Obviously, I'm I'm an older person.

我有关节炎的问题。

I have issues with arthritis.

我非常依赖全谱CBD。

I rely heavily on full spectrum CBD.

全谱CBD是市场的一大块，禁令后剩下的产品可能对老年人或想避免用阿片类止痛的人来说不够强。

Full spectrum CBD is a big part of the market, and the products left after the ban might not be strong enough for older folks or people trying to avoid using opioids for pain relief.

而且越来越多的人正在接受加州式清醒生活，从喝酒转向大麻或THC饮料。

And for a growing number of people, they're embracing the California sober life by switching from alcohol to weed or THC drinks.

这是联邦禁令，所以会影响那些大麻合法的州的人。

And this is a federal ban, so that will affect people in states where weed is legal.

除非特朗普总统能说服国会重新考虑全国禁令。

That is unless president Trump can convince congress to reconsider the nationwide ban.

在那之前，我们预计全国一半的人会过一个非常清醒的圣诞节。

Until then, we're looking at a very sober Christmas for half of the country.

本期节目由Julia Ritchie制作，An Li Huang负责工程。

This episode was produced by Julia Ritchie with engineering by An Li Huang.

事实核查由塞拉·华雷斯完成。

It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez.

凯特·坎农是我们的编辑，也是NPR节目的制作指标负责人。

Kate Cannon is our editor and the indicators of production of NPR.

我是艾拉·格拉斯。

This is Ira Glass.

在《美国生活》节目中，我们讲述关于变化的故事，比如这位名叫大卫的男士，他的一生发生了急剧、意外且非常不愉快的转折。

On This American Life, we tell stories about when things change, like for this guy David, whose entire life took a sharp, unexpected, and very unpleasant turn.

我确实花了一段时间才意识到，这基本上是因为猴子按下了按钮。

And it did take me a while to realize that it's basically because the monkey pressed the button.

没错。

That's right.

就是因为猴子按下了按钮。

Because the monkey pressed the button.

每周都有令人惊讶的故事，无论你在哪里收听播客。

Surprising stories every week wherever you get your podcasts.

一些团体多年来一直在就人工智能安全问题发出警告，但最近几个月，情况发生了变化。

Some groups have been sounding the alarm about AI safety for years, but in the last few months, something changed.

对话转变得太快了，从我们甚至不知道这是不是真的，变成了好吧，我们该怎么应对？

The conversation has just shifted so quickly, away from we don't even know if is real to okay, what are we gonna do about this?

人工智能黑客、失控的智能体、监管呼声。

AI hacks, rogue agents, calls for regulation.

我们在《短波》节目中为你全面解读。

We unpack it all on shortwave.

在NPR应用或任何你收听播客的地方收听。

Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.