WAKE UP AND SMELL THE CANNABIS

As every college student has probably heard, drugs are bad. At the very
least, you heard this message through the DARE programs at elementary school
and the countless public service announcements showing us how taking even
the smallest amount of illicit drugs will instantly destroy our lives and
turn us into junkies overnight.

And of course, for those who have had the good fortune of hearing
preacher Gary in the Brickyard, marijuana (make sure you actually
pronounce that "j") will lead you away from God and make you a
HO-MO-SEXUAL (as Gary would put it).

In truth, this really isn't the case, unless your picture has ever
appeared on national television. Such is the case for swimmer Michael
Phelps, who won eight gold medals in the Olympics last August.

A picture of Phelps smoking a bong surfaced earlier this year, and he
admitted involvement in some irresponsible behaviors. USA Swimming
eventually banned him from swimming competitively for three months,
and Kellogg's announced Feb. 6 they would not renew his endorsement
contract.

Seriously, for taking a hit off a bong, a record-setting Olympian is
going to be suspended from swimming?

There is one word that describes this situation, which can also
describe America's moral and legal views on drugs in general: stoopid.

For one, Phelps was not using an extremely dangerous drug -- estimates
on the median lethal dose of marijuana range from three pounds to 1500
pounds smoked in a short period of time. Regarding the latter: at that
point, overdosing on THC, the active compound in marijuana is probably
the least of your worries -- you're more likely to die from oxygen
deprivation caused by massive smoke inhalation.

There are more dangerous drugs out on the streets, and some of them
are even legal. The two big ones? Nicotine and alcohol. Combined,
these directly account for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year,
in addition to the damages caused to bystanders by second-hand smoke
or getting hit by a drunk driver.

I have yet to hear of someone smoking three to 1500 pounds of
marijuana in a short amount of time and overdosing on THC nor know of
a fire caused by trying to ignite 1500 pounds of grass in one place.
So the number of obviously marijuana-related deaths is probably zero
and definitely not competing with the hundreds of thousands caused by
tobacco and alcohol.

Let me put this in perspective via rhyme: alcohol and tobacco, have no
fear-acco, marijuana and cocaine, you are melting your brain.

The Michael Phelps bong incident is just the latest in a series of
battles in the foolish crusade we call the War on Drugs. Since Nixon,
the nation's drug policy has focused on taking dealers, users and
drugs off the streets.

Judging by the stories I've heard, the "gallant heroes" on the side of
right and drug-free America are getting their butts kicked -- college
students already have ways of circumventing the laws regarding alcohol
and tobacco. I'm pretty sure they could figure out a way to score some
of the harder drugs out there.

The moralizers who say drugs just destroy people's lives and drain our
society's resources need to take a lesson from the Phelps incident.

The policy of taking dealers and drugs off the streets is an
ineffective, supply-side solution: unless we do something about the
people who want drugs, there are always going to be people out there
to sell drugs. At the very least, we should consider decriminalizing
drug use, if not outright legalization. Much like the legal drugs I
mentioned (alcohol and tobacco), the government can regulate AND tax
recreational drugs. This money could help pay for something like the
$800 billion economic stimulus package Congress is debating.

So I suggest everyone who is busy condemning Michael Phelps wake up
and smell the cannabis. Because the far more lethal drug here is the
one you are hooked on: stubborn stupidity.