Michael Phelps: Flying High

Here comes Mikey.

Michael Phelps.

Mike worked hard training to achieve a goal and the objective was met. This has to be a story for the ages, right there. No need to go any further. Stop.

But no, we are not stopping there.

It seems that Michael was photographed smoking pot from a bong and now the world is agog. Some have assumed a holier-than-thou, he should be held accountable by losing the $100 million in contracts, etc., etc., etc. Many of these people were never 23, they never made a mistake. Just ask them. Others may be so under the influence, they still haven't heard the news story, even yet. They are not sure what day it is.

With this scenario in mind, this is your lucky day. PYY readers will get two rants in one post:

The drug laws in the U.S. are antiquated and hypocritical. Let's just (for this argument) take marijuana and alcohol, for instance. Both are drugs, no? Both create euphoria, right? One is legal, the other is not. Makes sense, right?

Wrong.

The history of alcohol in the U.S. should teach us the lessons we need to know about this. Prohibition is the era, in particular.

Remember how alcohol distribution went underground and created the opportunity for the growth of organized crime? Well, take a look around now. Marijuana is one of the modern day mob enterprises. Knowing this to be the case, what sense does it make to create these opportunities today?

We know that demand is there, we know that supply is there. We know that the war on drugs has not worked.

If for no other reason in the world, look at the fiscal end of it. Money is getting dumped into this and has had little effect (if any) on the demand or the supply. The vast majority of the war on drugs has been on supply. This to to say, it has been spent on enforcement of the laws, by making criminals out of these people. I am sorry folks, but it just isn't working. Why keep beating a dead horse?

How about this? How about we legalize marijuana? Alcohol destroys many lives, wrecks homes, kills people. Far more so, than marijuana. So I am not accepting this particular argument, which many will be tempted to counterpoint with me.

Allow pot to be sold in liquors stores with the same laws as the liquor industry. Then, tax the hell out of it. Stop tying up jail space and police officers wasting time arresting people like Waldo (who likes to smoke a joint on the weekends in the privacy in his own home).

The exceptions to this should be driving under the influence and providing it to minors. If someone is caught doing either, throw the book at them.

Now, I promised two rants. I want to make good on that promise.

This one is directed at Michael and others athletes/celebrities that require physical health, drive, and dedication to perform their jobs. Knowing how Mike had all of these contracts lined up, knowing how he could be financially secure for life, what kind of an idiot cannot show the self discipline it takes to make that kind of money? Like the NBA stars that get busted at the beginning of training camp doing stupid stuff (SEE: Indiana Pacers, before this year), why is it that they cannot behave themselves long enough to perform their craft to the best of their ability?

As for Michael specifically, despite my liberality in the drug laws debate, I think you should leave that crap alone. You need to keep your body as healthy as you can, for as long as you can. That's the talent you have been given, that's the talent you should use to the best of your ability. You started out with nothing, your mom busted her backside to help you get where you are now. Don't blow it for a few moments of socialization and escape.

And the same goes to others.

If you want to be a doctor, leave that stuff alone. Do not compromise your ability to think clearly, so you can learn what you need to learn. And later, you can use what you learn without distractions. Teachers, lawyers, businessmen and women, whatever, it will not make you any more successful by doing it.

If it affects your ability to exercise good judgments, it cannot be a good thing.

No one is going to care if you screw your own lives up without affecting them. But they will, if you screw up their lives in the process.

Think about it.