The last few days our news outlets have been filled with the shocking revelation that Michael Phelps, American sports hero, winner of an unprecedented 14 Olympic gold medals, has used marijuana. What I find fascinating is the sense of outrage, uproar, collective gasp of public horror, at the revelation that this young man was found to like smoking a bong from time to time.
If I were a Martian tuning in on our Earth broadcasts, trying to understand our culture only from its news sources, I would have to conclude that Michael Phelps is almost unique in his use of the dread weed. My Martian mind would logically assume that normal humans have no knowledge at all of this substance, have likely never seen it first-hand, have never been in a social situation where it was used, and almost certainly don’t know anyone who has ever used it.
But of course this is not the case. Just about everyone you know has used it, many people you know have used it far more times than they could ever count, and good friends and relatives of yours are using it right now. Our president has not only publicly acknowledged using it, but in fact has made a point of shrugging it off. When asked whether he had ever inhaled, his delightfully witty response was: “I inhaled frequently. That was the point.”
When called upon to take a position, the official reply of the International Olympics Committee was a collective shrug. The IOC pointed out that marijuana is not a performance-enhancing drug, merely a recreational drug. They couldn’t care less what Michael Phelps does on his own time.
But here it is being held up as an example of contemptible moral terpitude, a source of national shame and disgrace. A young man has been found to enjoy a little pot! How can we all continue to live in the face of such horror?
I wonder whether we are really all that far from the Islamic fundamentalists in other parts of the world whose narrow minded control of their own citizens’ lives we hold up for self-riteous condemnation. Is the vilification of Michael Phelps, a well-adjusted twenty three year old man, for doing something at a party that is being done by almost everybody, all that different from laws in other parts of the world that require the wearing of a burqa in public?
I don’t even smoke pot. And yet when I see something like this embarrassing news circus, the predominant thought that runs through my mind is: “What the hell is wrong with us?”
Clearly you have never seen someone close to you, fall into the ugly grip of drug addiction.
Yes, many people use marijuana. Some are productive, happy people, and some fall out of touch and become increasingly dependant and regress into a state of ugly darkness…
So, rather than take the position of “everyone does it, so it must be ok”, I prefer to take the square position of “it’s not ok, and it’s something that you shouldn’t be proud of”.
In terms of Phelps… He was an olympian. A Hero. Shoud be a role model, and, our role models should be ashamed of using drugs.
My ex wife was a drug addict. It was a difficult and painful thing to watch. Her use of marijuana ended up having a devistating effect on our family. It actually digressed to the point that she would have THC related dillusions and imagined that she murdered our children one night and called 911 telling the operator that she had stabbed the kids and thought she was dying… I was out of town on business at the time, and got a call from child protective services telling me that my kids were ok but in custody and that my wife was admitted to the psych ward.
This led to psychiatric evaluation, of course, and the use of antidepressants that took the place of the marijuana… Eventually, it got bad enough that we couldn’t be together any more.
I understand that this is an extreme situation and not the norm, just like many can drink alcohol and not have symptoms of acute aclcoholism… But, use of recreational drugs should be something we’re ashamed of, not proud of or indiferent to.
(the spelling in that was attrocious… perhaps a WordPress spellcheck is in order?) unfortunately, my fingers have their own ideas on how to spell when quickly typing. I guess I could proofread BEFORE I click submit… but, that’s exactly what they’d expect me to do!
I completely disagree. “Shame” and other moralistic terms should never enter into such a discussion.
Alcoholism is a tragedy, like many serious diseases, and it destroys lives. Of course I have seen lives destroyed by addiction – I’m a bit amazed that you would think I haven’t. But social drinking by people who are not alcoholic has nothing to do with what happens to alcoholics.
Some people should never drink alcohol. Not most people – some people. The same drink that you or I could take with no ill effect can lead an alcoholic to take another and another until it kills them.
Demonizing responsible alcohol or marijuana use by perfectly functional adults does nothing to help people who have a serious problem and are in crisis, like your ex-wife. It just confuses the issue and gets in the way of helping those people who actually need help.
I think we found another point that we will continue to disagree on.
I have seen many adversely affected by drug abuse. I have no problem in demonizing it, or considering it a vice, or whatever it takes to make it obviously something that is not needed or desired.
Here, is obviously a question putting personal freedom against protectionism. I struggle with that, mainly because I hold personal freedom as a very important ideal. Really, you should be able to do anything that you want that doesn’t harm someone else.
But, here’s a case where it can and does harm someone else, even though the methods and eventual causality is not always obvious.
The mere social acceptance of something dangerous is a dangerous position. So, I’m not big on changing the world through punative damages, but, rather through social non-acceptance.
Don’t throw Phelps in jail, don’t fine him, don’t take away his medal… Just put a big, fat “shame on you!” on him. This is enough. And I feel that this has been achieved.
Sorry, I don’t get it. Who was Phelps harming?
Troy, you and I got together recently when you visited NY, and we had some beers. Wes that immoral because I am a professor? And therefore if a student of mine saw us, maybe that student might think it’s ok to drink beer?
And if that was ok, at what point would it not be ok? If I were to become some sort of “celebrity” professor?
c’mon… We both know that you are already a celebrity professor…
I didn’t say that Phelps harmed anyone. Other than failing to meet the criteria of a role model which was clearly in his grasp. I guess he harmed himself more than anyone else.
Actually, the public reaction to his actions was a very positive thing. He was shamed for his actions sending a clear message “don’t do that”. I applaud that.
Troy, what would you think about Michael Phelps having a beer?
Making a conscious decision to break the law puts these two acts into entirely different categories.
But, to follow your line of thinking… How would you feel if he was shooting heroine?
What kind of heroine? Like Supergirl, or more like the chick from “Clueless”?
Yes Troy, I realize you’re not being serious. Because when you are being serious you maintain a certain level of common sense that’s lacking in your last question. Almost every adult you know has had both pot and beer, and the great majority have came out of both experiences just fine. But you probably can’t name a single person who has used heroin and has come out just fine.
I prefer my super ex girlfriend…
I love your clever use of rhetorical tools to discredit. Let’s change it to cocaine… Would it bother you if he was a coke user? I’m sure you know people that have survived that and perhaps still function under the influence…
You are smart enough to see that that is a common but dangerous endeavor…
(see, I can use rhetoric too) 🙂
Well no, it wasn’t rhetorical. Throwing heroin at this question just made it all silly. Cocaine at least gives us something to talk about.
The problem here is that there are two issues, and they are not the same. One is the question of how harmful is a substance to its user, and the other is the question of the illegality of a substance. And when those two issues find themselves in conflict, it is legitimate – in fact important – to question the law itself. Otherwise law itself starts to lose its meaning and its utility.
I think the reason that cocaine has become a lot less common than it once was is precisely that people themselves recognized that it was more dangerous than advertised. It wasn’t the illegality – that didn’t deter people from using it. It was the fact that people could see its effects over time on other people – a significant number of people become dangerously addicted and proceed to harm themselves. And so ordinary citizens have have come to recognize cocaine’s destructive power.
I really don’t know anybody these days who uses cocaine – although I realize that some people out there do. Using it is widely perceived – through peoples’ actual lived experience – as self-destructive.
That hasn’t happened with marijuana. People don’t see it destroying a significant number of lives, so a very large percent of the population questions the law prohibiting it. This is what happened with the prohibition of alcohol. The law didn’t match people’s own experience of the relative danger of the substance.
Silly, maybe, but an exageration to make a point.
For some, seeing him smoking cigarettes would be a negative, for others, that’s ok, but, no booze… you could argue these as silly criteria for us to impose on our heros… or, maybe that’s ok, but marijuana’s ok… Clearly, you’re a marijuana proponant… so, maybe cocaine isn’t ok? Freebasing? Heroin? Chronic Masturbation? Whatever…
I know several people that are or have been habitual marijuana users that all have one thing in common… Dead end lives and the maturities of teenagers. Coincidence? dunno… Maybe people that don’t grow up are just drawn to drugs, or, maybe the drugs make the people. I only have my limited observation to base it on.
In my world, the negative effects are noticable and demonstrable and you can extrapolate negative trends from my somewhat small sampling of users. I’ve already mentioned the extreme case. But, personally, I’m not a user. Have never been a user. So, maybe I don’t have a complete picture, but, I see it as a negative and don’t buy into the “everyone does it, so, it must be ok” argument.
So, I stand by my opinion that a sports hero, or a politition, or any type of role model should by bathed in a negative light when these types of indescretions arise.
Like I said in my original post, I don’t smoke marijuana, and I don’t have any particular interest in promoting it.
My original post was intended not so much as a defense of marijuana use but rather as an observation that universal public condemnation for something that is done by so many millions of people means that somewhere a screw is loose. A famous rabbi apparently once said something about casting the first stone, if you see what I mean.
My original point could not have made about, say, cocaine use because that is not nearly as common as marijuana use in our society. Although the point might very well turn out to apply to chronic masturbation… 😉