So, the latest gossip story is all about U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, and his apparent use of a “marijuana pipe” at a party last November. I’ll admit, I had to look up what a “marijuana pipe” was, and quickly found out it is commonly referred to as a “bong”, which is essentially what I’ve always known it to be. But I digress…

If you haven’t heard about this yet (which would completely surprise the hell out of me), here are some links to various media sources I read daily for fun, and to keep up upon what is going on in the world, and what people are bitching about:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympic_games/7873669.stm

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/05/kellogg.phelps/index.html

http://www.thestar.com/article/580780

Knowing what I know about the whole story, where Phelps was at a party, smoked some weed, someone took a snap and leaked it to a British newspaper, and we now have Phelps suspended for three months, and Kellogg deciding not to renew their contact with him, etc etc etc, all I have to say is this:

SO WHAT?!

The only people that would have an issue with this are the ultra-conservative, generally right-wing, highly-religious, socially-inept dweebs that are usually not very fun at parties anyway. It’s not like Phelps was snorting coke or shooting heroin, as that would be pretty fucked, but taking a bong hit? How is that morally wrong? A common thought as to why marijuana is illegal is because it was a threat to cigarette companies back in the 1920s – 1930s, and we all know how Big Tobacco, along with Big Oil, control the world. Hell, the income generated from taxing cigarettes alone is huge.

Still, I can see how a family company like Kellogg would want to distance themselves from Phelps as they want to maintain their “wholesome image”, and that’s their right, as they’re in business and have to cater to everyone, including the dweebs that are no fun at parties. But for the media to hammer Phelps’ image about how he has disappointed everyone, brought shame to the U.S. swimming team, the nature of the Olympics, etc, well… that’s just a crock of shit.

I doubt it will occur in my lifetime where people will wake up and realise that marijuana is hardly a drug at all and generally better for society than cigarettes and booze (people would certainly be a lot calmer), and a stoner is leaps and bounds better than a crack/coke/heroin addict (when was the last time you’ve heard of a stoner holding up a store… even if he DID have the munchies?!)… but one can hope.

Hey ultra-conservative right-wing highly-religious dweebs! You know this is just a plant, right, and that God apparently created it, right? So… what’s the big frikkin’ deal?