PHELPS AND HIS (ALCAPULCA) GOLD WHY SO SERIOUS?

He is a 14-time gold medalist, a fixture of every girl's sex
fantasies and a face of international swimming. But is Michael Phelps
also a marijuana user? Yeah, Phelps was caught smoking pot at the
University of South Carolina (a University with really interesting
media coverage. First, the racist dudes in Borat, now this? They look
really good right now). Some people I know, who are friends of
hashish, set their Facebook statuses to: "Support Phelps, win one for
marijuana." I stopped and thought: Win one for marijuana? What does
that even mean?

I just have to assume marijuana is losing. It is an illegal
substance, but that's because there is definitive proof that if you
try it, you will die, right?

Oh, wait, no, there's not.

The research on marijuana, which was banned in the Union States in
1937, goes both ways. A Duke study conducted a year ago found that
marijuana use is linked to gum disease. In a 2003 study, the
University of California San Diego reported no long-term mental harm
associated with prolonged marijuana usage. A 2008 Ohio State
University study discovered marijuana may indirectly reduce memory
impairment. In 2006, University of California at Los Angeles
researchers said marijuana does not lead to lung cancer.

So the research is remarkably inconsistent. Yet it's the most
commonly used recreational drug in the United States, according to
the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Our parents loved weed in the 60s, but then they started to hate it
again. What gives? Now "definitive" studies are being published to
prove marijuana is bad. Look at any drug control Web site and the
statistics are alarming. For example, the Greater Dallas Council on
Alcohol and Drug Abuse lists statistics that include the risk of a
heart attack is five times higher than usual in the hour after
smoking marijuana, and that the risk of using cocaine is 104 times
higher if you have tried marijuana. Therefore, marijuana is evil.

But other drugs, such as tobacco (with 5.4 million deaths per year
worldwide) and OxyContin or Vicodin (which, together, claim a higher
death rate than illegal hard drugs, like cocaine) are still legal
with some age or prescription restrictions.

The same can be said about alcohol: what's the difference between a
drunk driver and a stoned driver?

The drunk driver runs through the stop sign and the stoned driver
waits for it to turn green.

But I digress.

So is marijuana bad for you? Probably. Is it worse for your health
than abusing already legal drugs? Probably not. So why is marijuana
illegal? My guess is that marijuana activists are too stoned to work
hard to get it legalized. Oh well. I could care less either way.

Should Phelps have his gold medals, sponsorship deals and
international love revoked? Psh, he's a 23 year-old American who has
spent the greater part of his life training for glory, let him live a little.

Drew Everson is a Trinity sophomore. His column runs every other Friday.