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Up in Smoke?
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News of the World
Suspended by his team, dropped by Kellogg—why should Michael Phelps' career sink just because he was caught inhaling a little bong water? Mike Edison, former publisher of High Times, on marijuana's new golden boy.
George W. Bush never had to answer for his “youthful indiscretions.” Michael Phelps, not so lucky.
Having been caught red-handed with a smoking bong firmly pasted to his maw, the long knives are out for the Olympic hero.
Let’s see if I've got this right. Phelps isn’t a future Hall of Famer juicing himself with the “cream” and the “clear,” or getting his gluteus maximus pin-cushioned with designer ’roids. He isn’t a doped racehorse, or a testosterone-shooting bike nerd trying to turn his Lycra-Spandexed bum into a blur pedaling across France.
Even the current president of the United States freely admits to having toked his share of tropical trumpets back in his Hawaiian hoodlum days.
He isn’t even the current president of the United States, who freely admits to having toked his share of tropical trumpets back in his Hawaiian hoodlum days, not to mention tooting some of the Big Island’s finest imported disco dust.
He’s a 23-year-old rock star who got caught smoking pot.
How is Phelps going to do the breast stroke covered in tar and feathers?
Get it straight, sports fans: Phelps’ biggest crime here wasn’t snarfling the bong (or “dope pipe,” as it was called by the News of the World, the crack team of global do-gooders who broke this earth-shattering story). It was reinforcing every negative stereotype about college-age stoner dorks ever perpetrated on the square world. The flipped-back baseball cap alone is worth more hard time than any hit of South Carolina chronic.
Does anyone remember Ross Rebagliati, the Jeff Spiccoli of snowboarders? He was the Canadian dude who won the first gold medal in his sport back in ’98, only to later have it taken away when they found THC in his bloodstream in the post-event drug test. And then they gave it back to him (the medal that is, not the THC) when even the teetotalers at the Olympic Anti-Doping Committee had to agree that marijuana is not a performance-enhancing drug. If he actually was stoned when he won the event, they’d probably have to give him another medal, maybe even a trophy shaped like a hookah.
And what about the backstabbing hippie who snapped the incriminating photo for a bag of shells? Or the British tabloid press who gleefully aims to destroy careers with their pay-for-play pics of celebrity peccadilloes, e.g. rehab-reticent Amy Winehouse sucking on a crack pipe (not exactly a scoop) or superannuated supermodel Kate Moss hoovering some blow with her rock-star boyfriend (ditto)?
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Mike Edison is the former publisher of High Times, the former editor-in-chief of Screw magazine, and a professional wrestler of no small repute. He is the author of 28 pornographic novels and the memoir I Have Fun Everywhere I Go—Savage Tales of Pot, Porn, Punk Rock, Pro Wrestling, Talking Apes, Evil Bosses, Dirty Blues, American Heroes, and the Most Notorious Magazines in the World.
ronthunman
Hey, what's the big deal? Barack Obama smoked weed for years (probably took all kinds of dope back in his Hawaii days). Phelps for president - never mind, he's not black.
connie47
Who cares what Phelps or anybody else smokes? I can't believe the press on this. The US government spends obscene amounts of money, trying to stop people from laying their hands on a joint, in a culture that reaches for a bottle of pills everytime they have a hangnail. But rasie the subject of legalization (and the side bonus of taxation) and people go nuts.
doucet
I agree with Mike Edison, although I disagree with the use of your byline, "Pot's New Golden Boy". Poor Michael Phelps, just because he is a superb athlete and is passionate about his sport everything single one of his actions is seen as an endorsement of a product or life style, while he is kept to the "moral standards" of those who pretty much wallow in mediocrity.
redcedar
Palin Syndrome? Only in your weak imagination. Unlike the Con Artist in Chief, Sarah Palin has an impressive record of achievement and integrity, the opposite of your boy. Phelps caved when he was busted. He could have said, "So what?" and pointed out media hypocrisy and noted that the more dangerous drug called booze was used without hysteria. What's sad is someone sold out this good kid for a tabloid check.
AndreainNY
Michael Phelps is a role model for young kids. Ideally, that role model would model healthy, legal behavior.
Is that really so hard to understand?
milkbone
To toke or not to toke, that is the question: The answer: None of anybody's business as long as he isn't in the water. Somebody needs to get a life.
Northview
Eff a role-model. He has no obligation to anyone's kids. This culture of gimps. This nanny state. Dude was getting his smoke on. That's all it was. What he needs to be careful of are the losers he invites over to kick back with. Choose your friends carefully, kid.
hockeydog
Time to change the law!
JohnHedtke
I think the message to America's youth is very clear:
"Don't smoke dope! If you do, you could end up becoming a 14-time Olympic gold medal champion!!"
Banjo1
A drug addict and pornographer leaps to the defense. Isn't there a champion out there who doesn't live on the scumbag side of the tracks?
saramed
Any parent who is upset about this based on the "role model" argument needs to question how they tech their children about role models. Phelps is a fantastic athlete, but this says very little about his moral aptitude. Why not teach your children that the doctor, the philanthropist, the civil rights lawyer, etc. are good models of morality? And why not also teach them that nobody's perfect, everyone has vices, and everyone likes to have some selfish fun once in a while and the key is to balance that with good actions that help others? I hope I didn't blow anyone's mind with that one.
ARG2008
At first I thought your question might be rhetorical, but then after reading your article I realized you were serious. To answer your question, because the media is fueled by, makes money off controversy....because the meathead masses are a buch of watchers who idol worship while they simutaneously loathe the idol because it makes them feel less than so they relish in it's "humaness".....because it's not the first time the idiot got busted....because it's only fair that if you get to take advantage of the publicity you receive that that same magifying lense will show your warts otherwise it's just theater...because its's the least we should come to expect, because, because, because....
LabRat
Our nation has wised up with regard to marijuana. I wish our legislators would do the same.
clave54
Aren't Americans tired of making normal people into heros to afterward smacked them to little pieces for the smallest imperfection? This social "thing" always happens to you. Like a bad movie where you know the end, the middle and the beginning. Everybody in the media was taking shots at him. His girlfriend! His sexual tendency! And now you've got it! He smokes pot! Whow! I think we should stone him to dead! PLEASE! Leave this guy in peace I think your expectation are too high and nobody is a role model to anyone. Moreover I think that that your envy is getting the best out of you!
verysmo
Healthy, legal behavior....vices and selfish fun. These are all very open to interpretation, except maybe legal behavior. Don't smoke with jerks who have cell phones or cameras. Keep your nose clean and do what you want in private. This gimpy country is fascist enough already.
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