Heroes Are Human Beings Too

By Jason Flom and Anthony Papa

Thousands of stories across the country have captured the plight of Michael Phelps and his recent bong incident. Phelps has apologized for his youthful indiscretion. It seems that his apology was accepted by most Americans including the corporate sponsors that gave Phelps lucrative contracts for his endorsements.

Only one spoiler is making noise about the incident. Sheriff Leon Lott of Richland County has said that he will charge Phelps with a crime if he determines he smoked marijuana. Possession of less than an ounce of marijuana in South Carolina is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail or a fine.

Coincidently the Phelps story broke the same day that Santonio Holmes became MVP of Super Bowl XLII. Let's put this in context. Michael Phelps and Santonio Holmes are two superstar athletes involved in different sports but they share a common connection. Phelps starred in Olympics, winning an astounding 14 gold medals, a feat unmatched by any other. Holmes earned honors during last weeks Super Bowl when, in dramatic fashion, he caught the winning touchdown in the closing seconds.

Both athletes felt the thrill of victory in sports. They've also had to address their drug use in the press. It seems like heroics are not enough to cancel out the governments zero tolerance policy when it comes to recreational drug use.

Maybe both of these athletes should have known better. But even our greatest sports heroes are human beings who make mistakes. Both Phelps and Holmes are no different than millions of other Americans. Like Phelps and Holmes, millions of Americans use marijuana, either recreationally or medically.

Let's be honest. Olympic gold medals and bong hits don't mix well with mainstream America. Michael Phelps should know this. But maybe because he is a normal 23 year-old, he forgot. Both Phelps and Holmes remind us that even heroes can make poor choices that cause them to run afoul of the law.

Holmes has come a long way since his arrest in 2008 for the possession of a small amount of marijuana. He was caught with three marijuana-filled cigars in his car. Holmes received a one-game suspension and was allowed to continue the season without further punitive action. Holmes was able to overcome this mid-season stumble and recover to be the hero of the Steelers' record sixth Super Bowl title. Holmes received a second chance to make amends for his mistake. He made the most of it in grand fashion.

But when you're dealing with a government that is hell-bent on continuing an unwinnable war on drugs, it has little regard for mistakes. Take the case of Mitchell Lawrence, an 18 year-old Massachusetts teen, who was sentenced in 2006 to two years in prison for possession of a single marijuana joint. Lawrence received this rather severe punishment at the hands of an over-zealous prosecutor that had little regard for the teenager's youthful indiscretions. His life is forever ruined by the stigma of the arrest.

People who use drugs and people who wrestle with addiction are routinely demonized by the so-called moral majority. Drug use is considered a moral failing. This is wrong. Many people struggle with addiction and it should be addressed in a medical context, not a criminal, punitive one.

And for every person who struggles with drugs and drug addiction, there are millions of others who use drugs recreationally, and responsibly. Phelps and Holmes are two high-profile examples of people who use drugs recreationally and suffer no adverse effects - other than exposing themselves to criminal sanctions due to drug prohibition. Recreational drug use should not be used to demonize individuals. While Phelps and Holmes - tops in their respective sports - may not be destitute and strung out over their drug use, they face ridicule and scorn from Americans who have been convinced that drug use equals paralyzing addiction and ruin.

The moral majority might try to follow Sheriff Lott's lead and call for Phelps' head. One thing is for certain: Michael Phelps is still a hero to America and his career should not go up in smoke because of a single mistake. Santonio Holmes' Super Bowl heroics are a testament to this.

Jason Flom is President of Lava Records and Anthony Papa is communications specialist of the Drug Policy Alliance.

Comments

[robaljames]

Amen! Great piece on the double-standards of American politics and our need to end the "Drug War" as soon as humanly possible.

[Eikinkloster]

What I don't get is: You guys have a *president* who *inhaled repeatedly* because *that was the whole point of it*, and that fact isn't even brought up when the "Phelps scandal" hits the fan. Come on!? President Obama *bragged* about smoking marijuana and Phelps becomes a scandal because of a picture of a BONG? You can smoke *anything* from a bong! I've smoked vanilla flavoured *tobacco* from a bong. Can this get any more surreal? Are you all, conservatives *and* liberals, insane?

[llisa]

I say this as a person who has never smoked a single joint--US Gov.--legalize marijuana, tax it like cigarettes, use the proceeds to treat more serious drug addiction, and empty the courts and prisons of pot-smokers so you have room for real criminals. This is a win/win folks.

[mamak]

People are allowed to make mistakes.

In this case, his actions caused no one harm except maybe his own health (that too is debatable, since medical marijuana exists). Every one of us have made mistakes and made bad calls. So cut the guy some slack.

Phelps apologized. Everyone can move on. He is still an extraordinary sportsman. I will still support him 110%.

[demfriend]

Sadly Michael Phelps kid who never had any lessons in how to be famous and what it is like to have photographers surround you and people in regular clothes with cell phones who also take pictures and tell stories... He had women he never dreamed of looking at him or his ever meeting calling him and asking him out so overwelmed by the attention and the invites to the "in crowd" parties and places put him on the spin cycles until he did what many who have not ever had such attention would do, the wrong things. Experimenting with drugs? I would think in training he had strict rules about drugs and alcohol which would have kept him away from all that but he has been in the alternate world ofthe rich and famous without anyine to guide him and tell im what kind of attention would get him so much trouble he might fall very hard and not recover the fame becaus the black marks once on the record are what will be talked about and now he knows. Sorry isn't enough for those who expect he "heros" to be perfect and he no longer is. The pound of flesh is not enough for those who have already decided he fell from the top and no longer belongs anywhere near small children. Human he is and humans as heros are looked at too closely for this to get past those who decide where he now fits.

[research]

He did nothing wrong. Nixon and the FBI prosecuted pot heads to decimate the liberals. It's a political "crime".

Had he lied like the like the conservatives do, he would have gotten away with it.

What message are we sending Americans:

Do whatever you want, but lie if caught.

Never tell the truth and admit doing what people object to.

No matter the objective eveidence.

You all "Role model" people need to rethink this.

[sloppyJoe]

This kid loses his job...endorsements, banned 3 months from swimming...for smoking weed. Geithner doesn't pay his taxes...equally illegal... and lands one of the best gigs in the country. Screwy.

[blondesue]

Phelps is not a hero. All he did was swim and win medals. He never saved a life, never gave up his life for anyone, he is making millions all because he won Olympic medals. How is that being heroic? Why are sports stars put up on heroic pedstals all the time? They are making millions of dollars for what they do and they are HEROES? What a slap in the face for those firefighters, police, ambulance, soldiers who constantly put their lives on the line and making a pittance compared to sports "heroes". If Phelps was a hero, he would donate most of his millions to charities, schools, to persons in need. Then he wold be hero in my books. Other than that, stop calling sports personalities "heroes".

[Okay]

He represented our country in a world event and was successful. The populations of other countries place weight on that even if we do not. For me he was more a champion than a hero. And I appreciate his performance if not his personal life.

I wish MJ was legal so we could focus on violent offenders, free up the prison population, and reduce state and federal budgets. But hey what do i know I'm just an ordinary citizen with no medals to talk about.

[FreedomTruth]

Well regular human beings get prosecuted.Phelps is getting a free pass.They continue to compare his smoking of marijuana to Obama.Well Obama smoked it 30 YEARS AGO and Phelps smoked TODAY!.This country doesn't want to be the laughing stock of the 2008 Olympics or to China.So their doing everything they can to protect this so called "hero"of ours.

[surfcitysteven]

Get over your bad self, hardly anybody gets prosecuted for this. If you think something like this is what makes the country a laughingstock, you have not paid attention much to our politics the last 8 years, have you?

[WorkingClass]

But even our greatest sports heroes are human beings who make mistakes.

Smoking marijuana is not a "mistake". There are some very good reasons and some frivolous reasons to smoke marijuana. And there is no good reason to forbid it's use by a responsible adult.

[stevebest]

a msitake like he slipped and fell into the bong, He wanted to do looked like he was having fun while he did it and he probably thought it was worth it until....

[jcollell]

Leave the guy alone already. So he smoked marijuana. I can think of worst things a person, regardless of their status, can be guilty of.

http://www.youspar.com/

[traveler501]

hero? I thought he was a swimmer. I think you mean "celebrity", maybe "personali­ty"...mayb­e even "role model" if you are an Olympic wannabe. hero? please...

[joshuahmcdonald]

You are completely off base here, but perhaps not in the way that others may object.

You claim that "Olympic gold medals and bong hits don't mix well with mainstream America." You are wrong.

Marijuana is the number 1 cash crop in EVERY STATE IN THE US. This fact isn't by accident. It is because MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of Americans smoke marijuana regularly.

Let's be honest. Olympic gold medals and bong hits don't mix well with Republicans and those who work in the pharmaceutical industry.

Michael Phelps didn't make a mistake...you did.

[karbon]

Phelps should 'drop' Kellog's" for their low standards in nutritional value to the human diet.

[sedum]

Now there is a topic that should be dealt with.

[DWHarper]

Phelps is neither a hero or a heal. He is human and the fact that he is the fastest human in a pool or that he took a toke now and then does not detract from his human character. He worked hard for his accomplishments and smoking pot is not a sin in the least. In fact, his DUI was more of a sin since he could have hurt or killed other people. Our society has its moral compass pointed in the wrong direction and I will boycott any sponsor of Phelps that takes away his endorsements. Bye Bye Subway and Kelloggs1