By now almost everyone has seen the photo of Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps smoking marijuana. He has apologized to the world for his “mistake.” It may or may not cost him large amounts of cash in endorsement deals. As far as his swimming is concerned, unless he starts to fire up his bong just before he dives in the pool, I don’t think he will be affected by it.

But how will it affect us? Is this just another example of our sports heroes taking the wrong turn down the wrong road? Does it say to our youth that marijuana is OK to use because Michael Phelps does it? Does it say to our older Americans’ this is the problem with our youth today? No, no and no.

The problem is with us, not with Michael Phelps using marijuana. America sees a fresh-faced, Olympic-sized killer in Phelps. A man with success and a world-class ability to swim faster than anyone ever. And we like our champions to be pure of heart and body, as clean as a baby’s bottom. America sees a new hero. But all I saw was a 22-year-old kid having a bong hit.

I’ve always been in favor of legalization of marijuana for two reasons. One: it’s a natural resource. It’s been growing for years naturally, right out of the ground with no help from man whatsoever. For years we made soap, rope, fuel, and paper and even drafted the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper. It was only until the 1930s did we see the fear of the unknown come out of our government. We couldn’t effectively tax marijuana so the government decided to make it illegal. And as we know, if the government can’t make any money off of it, then John Q. Public isn’t going to, either.

Two: I’ve seen people with multiple sclerosis, cancer and other diseases that marijuana has plenty of medicinal uses for. It calms tremors, cures nausea, increases appetite, and gives people who ordinarily couldn’t do a day’s labor, a chance to contribute to society. Sometimes this is the only drug theses patients can take with no side effects. We’ve made giant steps with the use of medical marijuana, and we can make even bigger strides by growing marijuana and using it for resources and medicine.

By putting into the hands of the government we can tax it, regulate it, and sell it in liquor stores, 21-years-and-older-only to buy. The same penalties apply for selling or using in public as now. The end result is we can tax the heck out of a product that has never killed anyone, never caused anyone to overdose (except on cookie dough.) And we can stop paying millions of dollars each year in taxes to fight a war on this drug that we will never win.

Yes, Michael Phelps apologized to the nation for his faux pas. Even heroes have flaws. But in this case our hero is still a 22-year-old. How about we give him a break before his picture gets ripped off of the Wheaties box?

Contact Kent Reporter Columnist Todd Nuttman at lpierce@reporternewspapers.com.

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