? 
Phelps admits ‘bad judgment’ after marijuana-pipe photo – CNN.com
February 2nd, 2009 [General, Sports]
6 Comments »Phelps admits ‘bad judgment’ after marijuana-pipe photo – CNN.com.
Jesus. Big freakin’ deal. It’s not like the guy was shooting heroin or steroids or something. If he was apologizing over the drunk driving incident, I’d be all about him appearing shamefaced before the media. That’s actually something worth apologizing for. But this? Please.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:33 am
Who cares, this young man should not have to apologize for a behavior that has no reflection on his accomplishments. The shame is the media using a picture of a behavior that is socially acceptable in many European countries to try to disgrace or demean him. If Mr. Phelps did not live in a country with a purentanical prohibition of an harmless behavior this would not be in the news!
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:52 am
Seriously. I don’t condone drug use (never used anythingi harder than Jack Daniels), but I don’t really care what people do in the privacy of their homes either. Who’s he apologizing too? Who does he think he owes?
And why do we demonize marijuana but glorify alcohol, which by all accounts is FAR more destructive?
JR
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I totally agree Micheal Phelphs is kinda an idol to me but even though he may have made a few bad choices those are his alone and he shouldnt have his sponsors taken away because he wanted to have fun!!!
February 2nd, 2009 at 6:28 pm
JR, I totally agree. I believe alcoholic drinks – and prescription medications in many cases – are far worse than marijuana. And we really do demonize marijuana – did you know that the DEA classifies it in the same substance schedule as LSD and heroin, but HIGHER than cocaine and methamphetamines? But the reason things haven’t changed is that stepping off of marijuana would require the United States to admit it was racist, xenophobic, and WRONG in outlawing it in the first place. (The history of the plant in the United States is actually pretty fascinating.)
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:31 am
Ian: While I think Phelps should be free to do as he pleases (but for God’s sake man, make sure there are no cameras around) corporations are quite scared of negative publicity and don’t want to see their profits fall because judgmental consumers punish them for Phelps’ actions. I don’t care if he smoked pot until his brain fell out, that’s his business. But would I want him being a spokesman for a product I’m trying to sell? Uh uh.
JR
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:48 pm
I could understand this, but for the fact that at LEAST three times in a row, the American people have elected presidents who have admitted to some sort of drug use in their past – presidents on both sides of the fence, so you know it’s not just a matter of political ideology. Clearly we don’t seem to care (we didn’t even seem to care that Dubya was a drunk driver on more than one occasion, or that the drugs he did were much, much worse than pot). And aren’t these American people the same audience to whom these corporations are marketing?