There been a lot of hand wringing over U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps smoking marijuana. Certainly Phelps has been given a strong punishment -- both financial and otherwise.
The issue, however, seems to be more that people are shocked a man whose whole being seems dedicated to health would smoke marijuana. The legality seems somewhat off to one side.
Of course, if there was a photograph of Phelps smoking a cigarette the penalty would not have been imposed but I suspect the shock might have been even greater.
Anyway, see Colby Cosh below:
Colby Cosh: Phelps takes a hit
NP Editor, National Post
Friday, Feb 6, 2009
When pictures of U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps hoovering dope smoke out of a bong appeared in News of the World last weekend, a problem was immediately created for supporters of marijuana decriminalization. The problem is this: Even the perfunctory concessions we typically make to the dangers of marijuana look awfully ridiculous in the face of Phelps' use of it. Frankly, it seems like even the apologists have been way too hard on the stuff. Last week, for example, I would have been happy to state unthinkingly that marijuana takes away one's edge and has a tendency to undermine one's ambitiousness. But then, how many Olympic gold medals do I have? Phelps is being reviled for "poor judgment" by a community of editorialists whose highest collective achievement, not counting the plaques we occasionally hand out to one another, has been to keep a few more BMW dealers in business than there would otherwise be.
James Morton
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