SWIMMING AGAINST REEFER MADNESS

I am very disappointed in Michael Phelps. I thought he was better than that.

I really can't believe he apologized for exercising his God-given
natural right to fly Mexican airlines, to fire it up, to get a gage
up, to smoke the love weed, to take a hit of Mary Jane.

When Phelps inhaled marijuana from that bong at a party in November
at the University of South Carolina, he was simply exercising his
right as a free human being.

Apologizing made it seem as though what he did was somehow wrong.

That's just (reefer?) madness.

Nor should Phelps' behavior be surprising.

I was shocked how many Americans seemed surprised to discover that a
23-year-old at a college party might smoke marijuana. Our last three
presidents have admitted to drug use. Two of those three actually
admitted to inhaling.

When it comes to drugs, America is a nation of hypocrites. We permit
alcohol and tobacco, yet we ban marijuana, even when needed for
medicinal purposes. (California permits medical use of marijuana
under the Compassionate Use Act, but a federal ban remains in place.)

Apparently we would rather people suffer than have access to a plant.
How regressive we can be.

These athletes spend years training. It is natural, then, that after
the Olympics, they want to take some time and unwind.

While visiting a few bars in Atlanta with some friends the day after
the 1996 Olympics ended, the athletes were seriously unwinding,
getting drunk, dancing on tables, removing clothing. It was quite the
spectacle. It was, however, a much-deserved break after years of hard work.

So, rather than apologizing, Phelps should have told America to buzz
off. The reaction to the photograph that appeared Feb. 1 in the
British tabloid News of the World has been over the top.

Marijuana is not banned under World Anti-Doping Agency rules. An
athlete is subject to WADA sanctions only for a positive test that
occurs during competition periods.

Still, USA Swimming suspended him from competition for three months
and cut off his $1,750 monthly stipend and other performance bonuses.

"This is not a situation where any anti-doping rule was violated, but
we decided to send a strong message to Michael because he
disappointed so many people, particularly the hundreds of thousands
of USA Swimming member kids who look up to him as a role model and a
hero," the federation said in a statement. "Michael has voluntarily
accepted this reprimand and has committed to earn back our trust."

So, no rule was broken, yet he was suspended for three months?

Also, officials in South Carolina said they were looking into filing
charges against Phelps.

Unbelievable.

There is no evidence that any law was broken beyond the photograph.
Heck, a person can peruse MySpace and Facebook and find all kinds of
similar photographs. Should our law enforcers begin trying to
prosecute people based on photographs that surface? Of course, if it
were some unknown college student, it is unlikely police officials in
South Carolina would care.

The same day as the announced suspension, cereal and snack maker
Kellogg Co. announced it wouldn't renew its sponsorship contract with
Phelps, saying his behavior is "not consistent with the image of
Kellogg." The swimmer appeared on the company's cereal boxes after
his Olympic triumph.

That is, of course, the company's prerogative. In fact, the only
people who should be concerned about the photograph are Phelps,
perhaps his coach, and those like Kellogg who pay him millions of
dollars for endorsements.

Beyond that, it is really no one else's business what Phelps decides
to put into his body.

Let's face it. Taking a drug is a personal choice. It is unjust and
immoral to impose Draconian drug laws on society as a whole simply to
"try" to protect a few citizens from making bad choices.

In fact, legalizing drugs, as we learned from the alcohol battles in
the 1920s, would reduce by half the number of prisons in this country
and eliminate thousands of homicides every year.

Despite that, however, the real reason drug use should be legal is
because it is absolutely no business of the government what citizens
put into their bodies. Only when we permit citizens to make such poor
choices can we truly claim we live in a free society.