ANOTHER COURSE FOR PHELPS

Re "No breaks for lawbreakers" (Letters, Feb. 6): Olympic swimming
champion Michael Phelps smokes pot. He got his picture taken doing it.
That was a big mistake if he expected any kind of career in commercial
product endorsement.

However, there is an alternative market for his services in the campaign
to legalize marijuana. He may have broken the law, but he could help
change the law. He wouldn't have to claim that smoking pot helped him
become an Olympic champion swimmer, of course. But when you have won 14
gold medals, the freedom to choose ingestion of a chemical released from
burning the leaf of a plant that grows naturally just about anywhere as a
way to enhance your celebration should be yours.

Michael Phelps should not cower in shame. He should speak out in his
defense and the defense of thousands of people sitting in jail at the
taxpayers' expense for having broken a stupid law and committing a
victimless crime.

Fred Treece, Arnold