It is about time marijuana was legalized. Anyone who looks into the point in time where it became a crime in this country will see a dishonest government using fake scare tactics to convince a nation to put blame to a blameless act. It SHOULD be legalized and it should NOT be regulated or in any way controlled by the government. Doesn’t anyone else think that it’s a tad bit unnatural to control the use of naturally growing plants? Marijuana has never killed anyone; it is impossible to overdose on marijuana; until the last century it was used to help a myriad of physical ailments with regularity, from menstrual cramps to headaches. It’s time to grow up and stop the hysteria over such a harmless substance.

I think it’s ridiculous the media is making such a big deal out of this. Pot should be legal, end of story. I would GLADLY pay taxes on my weed if it meant I’d be free from criminal prosocution.

They should legalize marijuana. I don’t do it personally. But up here you can get stoned walking down almost any street because its so freely used. You can buy it in cafes too - still illegally, but available nonetheless. BTW, they should also legalize heroin. Having that cash cow stabilized and regulated would end the drug cartels hold on the world. 95% of the world’s supply comes from Afghanistan. That would surely stop the battling there. The Taliban just want to grow their damn poppies. Let them! But make it legal. They’d get out of the business REALLY fast!

Oh please, the apology was more than enough. He is to be commended for all the training he has gone through and his performance at the Olympics. I have never smoked, but so what, and so what if he did. He is 23. Marijuana should be legalized anyway. Would save the government money if pot was legalized.

Legalize it.

I agree that marijuana should be legalized and taxed….. think of the money we would earn on sin tax and what would be saved on that part of drug enforcement!!!! I love the comment about cigarettes being legal….. LOL!!!!

It’s irrelevant as to whether or not marijuana should be illegal or not. It is illegal and he did break the law, therefore punishable. The only reason people are debating this is because he’s well liked. If it was Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton, we’d all be screaming for them to throw the book at’em.

Yes, Michael Phelps should be punished. He is now an icon and supposed to be someone young people can look up to and no pot should not be legalized because a lot of young people smoke it. They shouldn’t be smoking it. It makes you lazy and slows thought processes and over a long term it clearly affects the mind and especially short term memory. It is an ILLEGAL drug and anyone using it should be punished. Key word here is ILLEGAL.

Phelps should be treated or punished just like anyone else who is caught smoking pot or doing anything that’s illegal. There are some people currently in prison for doing the same thing. Maybe they weren’t famous or maybe they didn’t have money but they broke the law and they were punished. Phelps should be as well. Whether or not we believe that pot should be legalized is beside the point.

I saw another article on this last week. The article I read recomended a hit a day. Gives me hope for my golden years!Another reason to legalize pot. http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20061006/marijuana-may-slow-alzheim…

This argument about marijuana is so outdated. It is legal in California for medicinal purposes. No one has ever proved that it is a gateway drug. We need to legalize it, tax it and pay off our debt and invest in other more serious drug issues. Our own city is going to slap people on the hand and fine them for small amounts of marijuana. How often do you read in the newspaper that someone was high and committed a crime? You only read about them getting stopped by the police and getting arrested. The jail and prison system is already overcrowded. Let’s use that venue for more serious crimes.

What he was guilty of was foolishness. When you’re heralded as the All American Boy, you don’t take those chances. As well, sadly, you learn not to trust your friends. Who was it that sold that picture? This will follow him for a long time, as well as the DUI and the Vegas bimbo…..sad. I believe he’s an innocent who needs to get some smarts. So far that need has been very costly.

Ya know I guess this could begin with “I” or I take responsibility for what “I” do individually and the effects collectively but that is not so. We tend to want history to dissipate until we can make up our own irrelevant to the outcome, so long as “I” have “mine.” Let us look at the history of cocaine, it was legal until it had a “wilding affect” on “Nigger Slaves” and put a fear into the people that their “White” women would be raped, this came under the control of laws. (http://www.drugpolicy.org/communities/race/historyofpro/) “[T]he drug laws can be used selectively and sporadically, against the poor or the otherwise undesirable, which is by no means incidental. Their enforcement is a tremendous political and economic weapon against what we call the Third World — James Baldwin ” I take the stand against the legalization of allowing people to break the law and separating the punishment unjustly. If an athlete, television representative, political figure, parent, child, unemployed human, or low poverty human deals with drugs, uses drugs in an illegal manner of any kind, should be held to an equal punishment of losses according to their ranks in this world. As of now, those who have more status in the world pay less. Those who have less status, pay the most. It is as if we can punish them, put them away forever, and never see them again. We are a country that desire and go after what we want, indifferent to the outcome. This is until what we put out into the country or the world, returns to us with unwanted reactions. It is then, we want rules, laws in place, not to stop what we put out (cocaine, crack, marijuana, etc) to the community, country or the world, but to protect our individual right. Right now, individually we are collectively at a loss. We could go on into the history of other legal drugs such as Alcohol and the effects on all people. The uses of numbing ourselves to reality, etc. That is all.

Do you all realize what a mentor he is to young swimmers? Literally thousands of young boys and girls, tweens and teens who swim look up to Phelps. He broke the law. It doesn’t matter if you think marijuana should be legal, right now it isn’t. If he is let go with only a slap on the hand, you can bet he will do something else. I think USA Swimming and Speedo should suspend him for longer than 3 months, and I hope he does lose more than just Kellogs as a sponser. This is coming from a fan of swimming who witnessed Phelps win everyone of his gold medals. Michael needs to be more careful and grow up.