ILLEGAL MEANS ILLEGAL, PERIOD

Weed smokers beware. You aren't going to like what I have say, so stop
reading now.

The rest of you, continue.

It's been a few weeks since Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps made
international headlines after a photo of him allegedly inhaling some
kind of 'natural' substance surfaced on the Internet, and reaction has
been swift. My own included.

Phelps was the boy wonder of the Beijing Games winning a record eight
gold medals as a swimmer and inspiring millions of people worldwide
with his carefree buoyant attitude. He must have been on top of the
world, and no doubt the whole world was gazing up at him.

I wasn't one of those who put him on a pedestal, so my heart wasn't
hurt when I heard the news, but I was disappointed. I couldn't believe
an athlete of his calibre and presumably at the top of his game would
do something so stupid. And it was stupid.

Marijuana is an illegal substance. Period. That's it. There's no room
for debate. The facts are the facts. An eight-time Olympic gold
medalist was caught smoking weed - albeit in a photograph - but he
doesn't deny it, and he's apologized for the 'regrettable behaviour.'
It's wrong.

Now these kinds of stories always bring the pot lovers out of the
woodwork, and it opens up the years-old argument of weed vs. alcohol
and legal vs. illegal. Marijuana users are quick to take up the torch
defending their choice to toke up, immediately pointing to the studies
that prove weed is better than alcohol. And they may have a point.
Personally I don't care.

And I don't give a hoot about whether you think it should be legal
either. There are sound arguments for it - I've heard a lot of them -
and it may indeed make the whole process of lighting up safer, but I
just don't buy it.

Call me old-fashioned, call me a prude, call me judgmental: sticks and
stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. I'm not a
drug user. I never will be. And I will fight tooth and nail to ensure
my kids aren't either, which means I will forever be an advocate of
keeping weed - a drug that muddles the brain no matter what people
claim - in the illegal category.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no place for those arguments in this
case anyway. The point is Phelps made a mistake. He's taken the
figurative fall from grace - sponsors are starting to distance
themselves from the Olympian, he's been suspended from USA Swimming
for three months - and I think it's the least he should expect.

Police in South Carolina - where Phelps was photographed with the bong
- - have started investigating the case, and while I don't expect any
real charges, I think it's important to go through the motions. He
doesn't deserve special treatment just because he's an American hero;
he isn't above the law.

As for the International Olympic Committee and its decision to stand
behind Phelps, the group should be ashamed. I'm not suggesting the
athlete be berated and beaten on the public stage, but there should be
some consequences for this kind of behaviour.

The IOC has taken the position that it happened outside of the Olympic
Games, so it isn't a problem - let's see how true that will be during
the next Olympics. The organization is setting a dangerous precedent
by saying it's OK to smoke up as long as you aren't competing and it
could potentially tarnish the good name of the Games.

Phelps is supposed to be a role model. He's supposed to embody the
spirit of athleticism, and represent everything good about sports. I
wonder how those athletes who aren't doing drugs feel about that. I
wonder how different reaction to this story would have been if he was
caught during the Games. I wonder how many kids will light up this
year because their hero did it too.