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Who cares that Phelps smoked pot? 
Posted on: February 2, 2009
When a photo leaked last week of Michael Phelps smoking marijuana from a pipe, the most decorated Olympian in history was compelled to apologize. But why do we care that he was smoking pot? The war on drugs is one of the most misguided efforts we have pursued as a country, and it's time for a fresh look at what the consequences of drug possession and use should be.
That gold-medalist Phelps indulged should raise the profile of smokers rather than lower his own. After all, he's not the first gold medalist to be seen toking. Canadian Ross Rebagliati was likewise caught in the act and stripped of his gold medal--which was shortly restored, but as Robin Williams points out...
Marijuana enhances many things: colors, flavors, sensations, but you are certainly not ... empowered. When you're stoned, you're lucky if you can find your own ... feet. The only way it's a performance-enhancing drug is if there's a big ... Hershey bar at the end of the run.
I'm not advocating smoking pot, but I'm also not advocating getting drunk. There are many kinds of drugs, and the ones that are legal are the ones that those in charge approve of and can effectively tax and control. It depends on the stigma attached to those who partake of the drug.
If you gamble in Utah one day and Nevada the next, is the act any different between the two states? It's only different because Nevada has figured out a way to regulate it and Utah won't. Are you criminals if you have a game of poker in your attic with a group of friends? What about that Super Bowl office pool you contributed $10 to?
The Federal Government alone spends somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 billion per month on the war on drugs, and states collectively exceed that. What do we get in return? Prisons full of young, minority men that we convert into hardened criminals. It's argued that weed is a gateway drug. If so, it's a gateway to state- and federally funded education to become a trained criminal.
Like so many things that we as a culture feel compelled to stick our collective, celebrity-obsessed noses into, Michael Phelps's decision to smoke is none of our business. His image should remain as sterling as his many medals, and we should pursue drug equality.
Whether you prefer drinking or doping, you should do it in moderation and without fear of prosecution. We've got far more important things to worry about, like the economic crisis. In fact, while we're looking for solutions, creating a new industry to regulate legalized pot could be quite the cash cow.
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Comments
I'll withhold my opinion on partaking of the pipe; however, I will congratulate you on smartening up the topic. Well done.
I second Lucy's praise. Once again it's good to see you draw a focus on what's really important and relevant. Keep it up. Make us think more! Ignorance and intolerance cause more problems than a little weed.
I'm with you on "Who cares?" I've always been amazed when people are anti-pot smoking but pro-inebriation. I was raised in a climate where smoking a joint was thought to lead to heroin and LSD usage whereas having a "highball" was perfectly okay (along with a little drunk driving). Binge drinking is far more dangerous in today's society and on campus. A bigger deal is made out of Phelps smoking pot than the multiple times celebrities go into rehab for alcohol abuse. Like you say, how about beginning a discussion on moderate usage & chill out about our obsession over celebrities in the first place. ;)
Read "The Natural Mind" by Andrew Weil. It puts things in perspective similar to Tyler's entry.
I care. He is a national symbol of America. He is an role model for the youth of our nation. Hell I saw some kids dress up as Michael Phelps for Halloween.
Way to really mess up Michael Phelps. You may be an Olympic Champion, but smoking pot is an immature childish act that goes to show that you aren't such a great role model for our kids as many would have thought.
GROW UP MICHAEL PHELPS!
Drug abuse and alcohol abuse are public health issues for which the government's response has been feeble. The government has a responsibility to protect it's citizens...even from their own weaknesses and addictions. Alcohol, tobacco and high-saturated fat foods should be taxed heavily. Controlling our borders would assist in controlling narcotic trafficking. Penalties for posession and distributing should be strictly enforced. PSAs should continue to educate the public re: the destructive effects of alcohol and drugs on lives and families.
As far as Micheal Phelps goes, success is the twin brother of responsibility. Very disappointing.
I do, and so should you since I believe you have a kid. What viewpoint are you sending? If it's ok to do pot, is it ok to do coke? Take a hike through several of the National and State parks in California. Pot growers have taken over the place, booby trapped the trails, killed and wounded citizens and law enforcement people. Similar incidence are occuring around the country, including Ohio and NW Pennsylvania. Maybe brewing up son Meth in the kitchen is ok too, since you do it at home. Get real. You're an idiot. Having worked at the National Drug Intelligence Center in Johnstown, PA for several years, and lived in Panama for 5 years, I've see first hand the drug trade, which includes the MJ trade. Aside from pot that is grown in the US by backyard gardeners, most is grown and smuggled in by the cartels which currently have just about shut down the Mexican border with uncontrolled kidnappings, murders, and all other criminal activities. Unless you grown it yourself, you probably got it from a narco/terrorist/murder. If you, Tyler, think that it's no big deal, get your Liberal dumbass butt to Juarez or a bit farther south and take a good look around. You must live in some pot induced Lala land to propose it's no bit deal. It's illegal, second it's a criminal/terror cash crop. The "war on drugs" may not be much of a battle cry these days, and I agree that alcohol, is probably far more destructive, but terrorists and narco/criminals don't happen to be smuggling in beer these days.
that's because beer is legal and pot isn't, thus the death and destruction you are oh so intimate with, clark. get with it. legalize/regulate/tax and the smugglers/kidnappings/all evil in the world will go away, except that there will be more money for the government to siphon off to the gazillionaires that really run this country. please.
Didn't our past two Presidents and our new one admit to smoking pot? I guess smoking pot and not paying your taxes is OK if you are a highly paid government employee.
@clarkkent, the reason pot is being smuggled in is because it's illegal. Change the law, change the culture. And thanks for the baseless, unfounded insults, I love that.
Get a grip. Legalize coke and meth brewing and then you can just get your sudefed off the counter again instead of asking the pharmacist. Your whole mentality is defective and another indicator of the general breakdown in the culture, from drugs, manners, ethics, etc. If you think that making a drug legal because it is popular and easy to obtain and some people use it, then your whole value system is out of wack. How about mecaline, PCP, LSD? People use that too, it's just harder to get. The whole problem is that like you seem to have no backbone to either resist doing doing drugs, giving people who do a pass, or trying to justify why you don't have the intestinal fortitude to say no. At what aqe will you permit your kid to start smoking pot? Maybe a high school training class on rolling joints will help them.
Marijuana is not nearly as potent a drug as PCP, Heroin, or LSD and is a common recreational drug, despite the law. I agree making it legal and taxing it is enticing for generating revenue, but now you would have a new legalized intoxicant to deal with on our roads, in our workplace and at all public places. The costs of poor quality of work, property damage, loss of lives and policing could be more than the revenue it would generate.
Will Rogers asked, 'We don't seem to be able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then tax it out of business?'
Um, Tyler...what was the question again, man?
It's absolutely ridiculous the Vindicator is allowing someone to come on here and encourage the use of illegal substances. What kind of world do we live in?!?
Pot is illegal! Don't encourage people to use it! Now I understand what is wrong with our country.
Take it easy, red. Catch some Ozzie & Harriet reruns, that should help calm you down.
Marijuana is addictive, increases the users risk of heart attacks, cancer, mental illness including schizophrenia, and lowers quality of life through causing irritability and impaired sleep, etc. These are bad things, and we should protect weak and vulnerable citizens from these serious consequences by making it difficult to get.
Legalizing it is absurd, but if you're a lib, it probably makes as much sense as socialism and non-tax paying cabinet appointees.
www.nida.nih.gov/infofacts/marijuana.htm...
Dope does, however, heighten ones ability to tolerate ultra right-wing rhetoric, thus enabling rational people to read posts at vindy.com.
If "rational people" in your world need dope to read posts or editorials from anybody, including right wingers, then you "left wingers" actually are just what many people think.
USA Swimming suspends Phelps for 3 months..
Least some are not advocating the use of dope in moderation.
Another point for the square community. Keep on smoking, Poindexter! They can suspend you for 3 lifetimes and you'd still have cash.
So, Tyler. Tell us -- does Vindy drug test?
Based on the comments here, there were obviously no tests or prerequisites of any kind in preparation for me taking on this blog.
the real question is whether use of illegal drugs warrants the harsh sentencing currently imposed. Do we wish to continue filling and funding prisons for people who are getting high, or are there perhaps alternatives?
How about this. Legalize all drugs. But, here is the catch. If you get addicted to pot, coke, heroin, meth, etc, and can't function or screw up your health, you are cut off. Government will not give you a welfare check, free health care, food stamps, section 8 housing, nothing. You are on your own!! The same stipulations should be placed on the use of tobacco and alcohol. We the responsible taxpayers should not foot the bill for a person screwing up their lives with the junk.
I see it as a great way to thin the herd. Survival if the fittest.
Woody... I see what you're saying, but do you realize if we let even more people get addicted to drugs (and if they don't have access to their welfare check, etc.) that crime rates are just going to skyrocket? Addicts are known for being thiefs. So they might not get rewarded with your tax dollars, but they're going to make some quick cash off of that big screen tv in your living room.
As another blogger on this site, I would not fault Tyler for needing a toke after reading some of the comments that come his way. Do you realize how wacky some of these posters are? It is enough to drive anyone to drink/toke/running a few miles - whatever your drug is, if one wasn't stable minded and had a thick skin. ;) I have to say that a few of you are good for a daily chuckle.
By reprimanding Phelps publicly instead of offering him help and a second chance I think we are sending a bad message. If it is so bad to admit to making a mistake like this then our children who do make this mistake and get into addiction troubles will only hide the problem for longer. In return will probably have legal or criminal problems before someone can help them. We need to start sending a message to our children that if they make such mistakes that they can be forgiven and there are people out there to help support them and lead them back to the right track. Phelps will be okay with his marajuana mistake but when we start destroying his life and his dreams for a mistake that most of us have encountered, then were will that lead him? People who put such harsh jugdements on simple mistakes usually help cause a road to bigger mistakes. We need to remember to help people at first, not judge them. Then if they continue the drug use, they have then earned the criticism and the punishments. We need a system were people can face there mistakes and have someone to turn to to correct the mistake. Not a system who punishes people after the drug use is to great and the withdrawel is so harsh it is almost unbearable. Or why do we even dare try to destroy someones career before they even have a chance to make it right on there own?
Wow Tyler! It looks like you woke up some sleepy minds. Good work. I agree with your attempt to remind everyone that the original issue was about degree and cost of punishment in a world with other priorities.
Despite the temptation many of us feel to engage the ignorant, remember: "It's not fair to get into a battle of wits with defenseless people."
reefer, indulged in moderately, does, in fact help in coping with the un-informed. if you were to try it ,(more than once), you would know
Seriously, This Phelps flap is a collective national over-reaction. This is just another case of the media telling us what we should be outraged about.
"But Phelps is role model" you say. He's also a man in his twenties, and shouldn't we remember that another man who indulged in drugs and alcohol in his youth just served two terms as our president?
This obviously was not a problem until it got publicized now all of the sudden he is a drug addict give the guy a break! Shame on the person who leaked that picture! The guy is obviously the best at what he does! What he does in his spare time is his own business! WE ALL need to mind our OWN business and maybe we could get ourselves out of this situation our country is in! If you ask me I think his privacy was invaded. Be Careful
who you trust with your privacy anymore.