Michael Phelps- Did marijuana ruin his career?
Posted: Friday, February 06, 2009
by Gregory Akerman
Silver Discount Properties, LLC
Michael Phelps has become a household name after the Olympics. His record 8 gold metals makes him the greatest swimmer ever and possibly the greatest athlete of all time. Recently, photos have surfaced showing Phelps smoking out of a bong. The Richland County sheriffs office is investigated whether marijuana was smoked; If it was smoked on the school campus, criminal charges may be filed. The outcome of these photos led to Kellogg's announcing that they would not renew their advertising contract with Phelps. Even worse, USA Swimming has suspending Phelps from competitive swimming for three months.
The person who took the photos is a complete jackass, no arguments there. However, the penalties imposed on Phelps are completely unjustified. The government wants to make an example out of Phelps. Now, of course many people, and many kids, look up to him. Without a doubt he is a role model for many and an inspiration for many others.
Due to these pictures, Kellogg's isn't going to renew their advertising contract with Phelps. And even worse, he is banned from competitive swimming for three months. Marijuana is the complete opposite of a performance enhancing drug. Marijuana makes most people relax, hungry, and lazy. For other people, anxiety and panic attacks are possible. If you go to the DEA website you can find a list of drugs and how many people die from them each year. For Marijuana, the number is always 0; it's the only drug that doesn't kill people. In fact, California has a Medical Marijuana System up and running. You basically have to get a doctors recommendation. After that, you can go to a Cannabis club which is simply a store that sells Marijuana, which there are many of here in Los Angeles County, and buy marijuana.
The only person who should be punished here is the person who took those pictures. If Michael Phelps once to indulge in marijuana here and there, it's certainly better than alcohol, and who are we to judge? Phelps gave America 8 amazing swims and 8 gold metals, and when Phelps makes a tiny mistake the country gives him the boot? This is unfair and unjustified.
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Top-level comments on this article: (7 total)Good analysis of breaking news. I too wondered why he seemed to be acting oddly.
Interesting read. A little more research and you would have learned that his contract with Kellog would end at the end of Feb and that he has a DWI in the past. I pray for the best for him because I think he is a really great kid with a lot of responsibility.I am aware of both of those things; I just didn't incorporate them because it would of made the article too long.I'm not sure, but I think nthe thing with Kellogg is that they would of renewed their advertising contract; But these pictures caused Kellog to decide not to renew the contract.I was also aware that he had a DWI (or was it a DUI?).I'm thinking about you last sentence, "...I think he is a really great kid with a lot of responsibility."Your dead on about too things. He is still a kid, and he has alot of responsibility.My meaning of he is a kid is how he smokes marijuana and gets a DWI. Those are things you might experiment with in high school; maybe college also. But really, because in a way he is considered the greatest athlete that ever lived, he doesn't really act like one. He does need to step up his responsibility. I am sure he is now very rich; he should use his money for good causes.For example, creating youth afterschool swiming activities. He can single handedly make swimming a popular sport in this country. He should do it.But as far as the marijuana thing goes; Give the guy a break; He must of been under sooooooooooooo much pressure at the Olympic games; being a kid sure must of helped him keep his calm.Your right, it is DUI, and yes, Kellogg may very well have renewed his contract. When you get to be my age almost everyone starts to become a kid. I am glad to hear that Phelps is stepping up to the plate and taking responsability. It will be interesting to see what transpires in his future. Thanks for your response.
Gregory,Very interesting article. Unfortunately, Phelps was doing something against the law. Whether marijana should be legalized or not or whether California is moving in that direction or not, is not the issue. Phelps broke the law and he is a role model. Were they not to break his contract, Kelloggs would come under fire and I am confident its stock would drop.Watch The Untouchables. Did Eliot Ness want to take a drink? Without a doubt, but if is the law, it is the law whether we agree or not.Just because something is a law doesn't make it right.Don't get me wrong here, I'm not about to compare marijuana legalization to civil rights issues, but lets talk about the "Jim Crow" laws. There were laws at a time that severely negetivily affected African Americans. The laws were overturned.So just because something is a law, doesn't mean it's right.And I did watch The Untouchables. Great movie!
You are right, Gregory--this is being blown totally out of proportion. Smoking mirajuana did not get Clinton kicked out of office (of course, he didn't inhale). The only thing bad about mirajuana is that it is a drug and probably does kill your brain cells and should not be used before driving, but if you had to put every person in the country that has or does use mirajuana, there would be only a few old people and very young people left on the streets.Of, course, Phelps should have used a little common sense when smoking in front of a camera--although, he probably thought it was pretty funny at the time.Sandra
hi gregory,the stigma that has been put on marijuana is thick, however, one can go to a restaurant, drink 5-6 drinks, legally, and without discrimination, and drive home drunk, killing 3 people. some get violent when they drink, some beat up the guy at the bar, or their wife and kids, but it's okay, it's legal!to throw away a young man's career is a little much, especially since those that break the law drinking over the legal limit, get fined, and life goes on.even worse, there are states that marijuana is legal. is phelps still a hero there?thanks for sharing,best regards,sue thomIn California, Medica Marijuna is legal.Are you for this or against this?i'm for legalization of marijuana, and delegalization of allowing people to leave bars, restaurants, etc., after they have been drinking too much.marijuana is a plant that is grown, and some smoke it. big deal, they either eat everything in the fridge, or go to sleep, or just chill out. it isn't always so with drinking.if phelps had been drunk while driving, this would have blown over.even kellogg's would relate to drinking too much and driving, but don't smoke marijuana, i wonder how many top executives have had dwi's.phelps should not have been doing anything he didn't want the media to get a hold of, but does that now mean he isn't the best swimmer alive?obviously, he doesn't smoke much, or his lungs would be affected just like smoking, and he'd never be able to swim as fast as he does.too much money would be lost if pot were legalized, and drinking was not.that's the bottom line.so, i guess i'm against the big media hype, and the slaying in print of a 21 year old who should have known better, but didn't. i think we all have been there.best regards,sueIf pot were legalized, money would not be lost. The government would profit tremendously if marijuana were legalized.When people say that marijuana should be legalized and the government would lose money; this is not true.If your saying that too much money would be lost if alcohol was made ilegal, that's a completely different story. But that would never happen (again) because the government knows the consequences if it ilegal (Al Capone...etc.)The argument for the government not making money if marijuana is legalized is usually that, people say, people would grow marijuana themselves so the government wouldn't make money.This is completely not true. First of all, if weed was legalized, 99% of weed smokers would not grow, they would buy them like they do cigarretts. If they wanted speciality high quality marijuana, than there woulf be specialty shops selling it.If it was legalized and taxed, like alcohol and cigarettes are, the price of weed would so go down DRASTICALLY.Most people that smoke weed like the strong potent stuff, and that stuff is grown indoors. To set it up costs thousands of dollars. The maintanence requirements are huge and extremely time consuming.Outdoor marijuana is inherently limited in how good it can be and in the Valley its not considered good. Granted the Valley is extremely spoiled for good quality for good prices.Let me give you an example/scenario if weed was legalized.First, a pack of cigarettes costs 5 dollars. A pack if exclusive really specialy cigarettes is 10 dollars. Are pack of no name whatever cigarettes is like 2 dollars.Let's consider two strains, or types, of marijuana. One is called :"chronic," and its good stuff, we can compare that to the 5 dollar pack of cigarretts. What most people typically agree on is that a strain of weed called "OG Kush." is the best weed ini the world. That could be compared to the 20 dollar speciality pack of cigaretts. Outdoor weed you can compare to those no name 2 dollar pack of cigarretts.Currently, 3.5 grams of chronic costs 35$ (in the city like $45). 3.5 grams of OG kush costs $50 dollars ($70 in the city).If weed was legalized, there would be huge huge companies growing indoor chronic class marijuana, and smaller companies would be selling OG kush class marijuana.If it were legalized, I'd guestimate that 3.5 grams of chronic would be like 10 or 15 bucks, and 3.5 grams of og kush would be like 20 or 25 bucks. There would be nice price breaks for bigger amounts. A pack of cigarretts instead of tobacco weed would be like 10 for chronic class and 15 for og kush class. Outdoor weed would be very cheap and alot of people would buy it because they wouldn't want to get too high; before work, for instance.Anyways, a good 30% of those prices could be taxes. The government would make a killing and at those prices most people wouldn't grow.And I do not smoke marijuana. I have before, but I do not. I just live in the Valley these type of things are almsot common knowledge for people my age here.
What's funny is that when I read the name Michael Phelps, I had to say, "Who's that?" For the many millions who didn't see the Olympics or have lost interest--I'm in the latter category--I have to begin my comment here. (It always surprises me that just because a few million people are aware of someone or something in America, they assume everyone knows world-wide, nevermind country-wide. ie: the majoriy of billions have no clue as to Angelina Jolie is.)But just like Bill Clinton's run in with the drug, it obviously had little effect on Phelp's performance. This controversy to me is a red herring and has little to do with performance (look at the results).
It sure wasn't "weed" that helped him get those medals, was it? Good job here.I would hope that he was drug tested multiple times during the olympics; It would be a shame if those 8 gold metals he earned were nullified due to steriod use.
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