Michael Phelps ads prove a new cultural tolerance of marijuana

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Graham Hughes / Canadian Press

Michael Phelps kept all but one of his endorsement deals after the bong scandal broke. Apparently, advertisers saw little downside to being associated with the 14-time Olympic gold medalist.

Dan Neil
July 7, 2009

Super-swimmer Michael Phelps returned to big-time advertising Sunday with a TV spot for Subway titled "Be Yourself." Oh, the irony.

Surely Phelps -- 14-time Olympic gold medalist and endorsement juggernaut -- was being only himself, only human, when he was photographed in November hitting a bong at a party at the University of South Carolina. That photograph, first published by the British tabloid News of the World in January, resulted in a three-month competition ban and cost Phelps a reported $500,000 deal with Kellogg. The swimmer promptly issued a sniveling apology, copping to "regrettable," "inappropriate" and "youthful" behavior (doesn't the latter want to excuse the former?). Phelps, 24, has more or less cheerfully dined on PR ashes ever since, in interviews with Matt Lauer, among others.

Interestingly, the apology from the world's fittest stoner infuriated proponents of legal weed, who saw the episode as a missed opportunity to advance the cause. After all, if Aqua-Man smokes bud, how bad can it be?

This is the greatest Olympian of all time, a man chandeliered with gold medals on the cover of Sports Illustrated. His achievements mock the moral hysteria that traditionally rains down on marijuana.

The Subway ad itself is nothing special. It's a compare-and-contrast between Phelps' glamorous life as a sports superstar and that of Jared Fogle, Subway's former-fatty mascot. Jared prefers the low-fat sweet-onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich, while metabolic dynamo Phelps dares to eat the foot-long Meatball Marinara with Jalapeño, containing 1,060 calories and more than 3,000 milligrams of sodium.

Eating these will not make you an Olympic swimmer. A floating island, maybe.

Culture deconstructionists will pick the spot apart for oblique references to the scandal. Phelps' chin whiskers are kind of bro-ish, for instance. He does look a trifle baked (could be the chlorine). AdWeek's Eleftheria Parpis wrote that "you can almost hear all the blunts lighting up in support as Sly & The Family Stone's 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)' kicks in."

And it really is too bad that the sandwich franchise's website is subwayfreshbuzz.com.

Even so, the Phelps-bong scandal seems to have been safely put to bed, and now that it has, it's worth asking, what have we learned? The consequences to Phelps -- actually, the lack of consequences -- suggest that something bigger than mere endorsement dollars is in play. It seems Phelps has moved the weed needle.

Yes, USA Swimming, the sport's national governing body, suspended Phelps for three months, time he used to whip himself into shape after his post-Olympic bacchanal. (The organization also withheld its monthly stipend, an amount that probably wouldn't put gas in Phelps' Bentley.)

Yes, Kellogg declined to re-up with Phelps, but tellingly, other endorsement deals remained intact: Speedo, Omega, Subway and Mazda China. Subway didn't hesitate to stand by its man (though it did postpone the current ad campaign six months to let the agita die down). Mazda required Phelps to record a minute-long mea culpa directed at the people of China -- mortifying but harmless. In June, Phelps inked a deal with H2O Audio, maker of high-end waterproof headphones.

In other words, there were no serious consequences. To the extent that endorsement opportunities are a rough metric of how well someone in public life is liked, admired, respected, the bong-heard-round-the-world scandal might as well never have happened. With the benefit of hindsight, Kellogg execs might well be kicking themselves.

You could ascribe the missing fallout to Phelps' incredible personal magnetism or -- far more likely -- to the fact that advertisers saw little downside to being associated with bong-meister Phelps.

Nor should they. Across the board, marijuana is being steadily decriminalized and de-stigmatized. In a Field Poll in May, 56% of Californians favored legalization, slightly ahead of the roughly half of Americans who favor such a move. Thirteen states have legalized medical marijuana, and three more are considering it. In a dozen states, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is not illegal. One hundred million Americans have smoked pot, and about 14 million use it regularly, according to federal government studies. U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder has said the federal government would no longer raid California medical marijuana dispensaries.

Ethan Nadelmann, of the legalization-advocacy group Drug Policy Alliance, told the Associated Press last month: "This is the first time I feel like the wind is at my back and not in my face."

I'm sure, given the choice, Phelps would prefer not to be a milestone on the road to the marijuana's mainstreaming. Still, what we're witnessing is the death of a certain kind of shame.

Advertising -- and that's what celebrity-athlete endorsements are -- is a highly sensitive antenna of culture. Because it strives to reach, hold and please the greatest number of people, it represents a special threshold of cultural acceptance, the floorboards of the norm. The return of brand Phelps says more about us than it does about him.

dan.neil@latimes.com

Joe Rogan's open letter to Kellogs regarding Michael Phelps

Nicely Done Mr. Rogan...

February 16, 2009 | Posted in The Rogan Blog | Blog Archives |

Dear, Kellogg’s.
I’m writing this letter to express my disappointment in your company in firing Michael Phelps as a spokesperson for your products because he was photographed while enjoying some marijuana. I respectfully would like to communicate my opinion on this matter because I think it’s of great public interest.

First of all, although it is true that Mr. Phelps broke the law, I think any reasonably intelligent person would admit that it’s one of the most fucked up and corrupt laws that we have today in this country. Marijuana is relatively harmless and certainly far less dangerous than a host of other things that are not only legal but also readily available, like alcohol and prescription drugs. The only reason it remains illegal to this day is because it’s a plant and you can’t patent it and control it’s sale, and because if it were legal it would greatly affect the demand for a host of prescription drugs that rake in billions of dollars each year for pharmaceutical companies.

That’s it.

Marijuana has never killed anyone EVER in over 10,000 years of use. We’re not protecting people from themselves, we’re not saving the children - it’s just a horribly illogical law that is in place because of corruption and propaganda.
The fact that it’s against the law is just a disgusting reminder of how retarded our system is, not a reasonable reaction to a proven threat to society.

I have to say, this whole thing saddens me, because I personally would like to think that as Americans we’re better than this. These television news anchors will shake their heads at the thoughtless mistake Mr. Phelps had made by “smoking dope,” and then without even the tiniest sense of irony they will cut to a beer commercial.
This is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave, right? We’re not supposed to be a nation of little bitches giving in to the whims of corrupt politicians and the pharmaceutical companies who’s interests they’re representing.


It’s 2009, and in this day and age with the incredible access to information that we have available there’s no fucking way that we should be allowing human beings to tell other human beings that they can’t do something that they enjoy that hurts no one including themselves.
THAT is madness. THAT is ignorant, and THAT is completely fucking un-American.
I don’t want to hear any of that, “he’s setting a bad example with the children” nonsense either, because we all know if he had a gin and tonic in his hand instead of a bong this would never have been an issue, even though every single study ever done has shown that marijuana is FAR less dangerous than alcohol.

Marijuana laws are a horrible waste of resources and law enforcement, and especially in this day and age with our economy in such horrible shape I believe the last thing we need to be doing is wasting tax payers’ money on any of this victimless bullshit.

I find your reactions to Mr. Phelps situation both ignorant and short sighted.
I think what would have been a far better response from Kellogg’s would be to support Mr. Phelps, and perhaps point out that maybe we as a society should take a closer look at the evidence and possibly reconsider our position on this misunderstood plant that so many of our productive citizens find useful.

Now, I’m sure if you really were running Kellogg’s and you were still reading my bullshit all the way down to this, you must be thinking, “Why the hell would we stick our necks out like that for pot smokers?”

And of course the answer to that question would be, because we buy your shit, motherfucker.
Do you guys even know your consumer statistics? Well, let me fill you in on some of my own personal scientific research on the subject, because I have been closely studying my own purchases for over 20 years, and I can tell you that I’ve been high 100% of the time I’ve bought your shit.

I mean, do you guys ever think about what you sell?
Pop tarts? Are you kidding me? I would be willing to bet that 50% of the people buying pop tarts are stoned out of their fucking minds.

Just to be perfectly clear on my position, I would like you to know that I enjoy your products. I think many of them are quite tasty, but lets be honest; you guys sell sugar-drenched shit that’s horrible for your body - in fact, it’s actually way worse for your body than pot - and you market this shit specifically to children.

You assholes go as far as putting lovable cartoon characters on the boxes just so that kids will beg their parents for it.

Now, I don’t want you to misunderstand my point, because I in no way want anything bad to happen to your company. Like I said, I genuinely enjoy your products. There’s nothing quite like being stoned out of your mind at 2am watching a Chuck Norris movie and eating a bowl of fruit loops. Your company and its products have been a part of some very pleasurable moments in guilty eating, and I’m glad you’re around.

All I’m saying is that it’s high time (no pun intended) that you motherfuckers respect the stoner dollar. There’s WAY more of us than you might think, and we tend to get upset about dumb shit like this. There are millions of us, and if we decide that we don’t like a company, they’re going to feel it.

I think if you looked into it carefully, you would be surprised at how many undercover potheads there are out there. Pot smokers don’t all fit into the obvious, negative stereotypes; we come in all shapes and forms - including by the way, the form of the greatest fucking swimmer who ever lived, EVER.

Think about THAT shit for a second..

So in closing, I would like to ask you nice folks to please smarten the fuck up.
I would request that you check the calendar and note that it’s 2000 and fucking 9, and next time you think about getting all uppity about pot you might want to do a quick google search on the facts.

It’s 4:40am here in LA, and I’m going to wrap up this blog and to celebrate its completion I’m going to enjoy one of my personal favorite Kellogg’s products: Eggo waffles.
I’m gonna pop 4 of them bitches into the toaster, and then I’m gonna stuff the bong with some fine, American grown “Train Wreck” and sacrifice the sacred plant to the fire gods in tribute to the unjustly persecuted 8 time Olympian hero. Then I’m gonna get some butter, and I’m gonna smear it on those Eggos, I’m gonna cover them with maple syrup, and I’m going to eat the ever loving fuck out of them.
Good day, sirs.

Yours truly,

Joe Rogan.

Lawyers: Is sheriff too aggressive in Phelps case?

2 hours ago --
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Even if a South Carolina sheriff is successful in building a marijuana case against swimming superstar Michael Phelps, it might be hard to make the charges stick, defense attorneys say.

The case took a turn Thursday when lawyers for two people said their clients were among eight arrested last week and questioned at length about the November party near the University of South Carolina where Phelps was photographed smoking from a marijuana pipe. At the time, the men were renters at the house.

The effort to prosecute Phelps on what would be at most a minor drug charge seem extreme compared to similar cases, lawyers said, and have led some to question whether the sheriff is being overzealous because he's dealing with a celebrity.

``The efforts that are being made here are unlike anything I've ever seen before,'' said Jack Swerling, a defense attorney in South Carolina. ``I know Leon Lott, I know him to be an honorable guy. I've known him for 30 something years. But the efforts here are extraordinary on simple possession cases.''

After the photo was Phelps was published Feb. 1, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said his office would investigate and possibly charge Phelps, though officials have not specified what the offense might be. Since then, authorities have released little information, and the sheriff's department refused to talk again Thursday.

Lott has made fighting drug crimes a central plank of his career. He rose from patrol officer to captain of the narcotics division in the early 1990s and was well-known in the county for wearing stylish suits like the drug agents on ``Miami Vice'' and driving a Porsche seized from a drug dealer. He was elected sheriff in 1996.

Lawyers for the two men say they were questioned almost exclusively about Phelps and charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession.

Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian and fellow defense attorney Joseph MuCulloch said deputies searched at least two houses. The men told their lawyers the raids went down like a major drug bust, and 12 deputies burst into the home with guns drawn, pulling small amounts of marijuana from those arrested. Several computers and storage devices were also seized, Harpootlian said.

The lawyers did not release the names of their clients, but Harpootlian said that his client didn't even see Phelps smoke marijuana at the party. McCulloch said his client was out of town, and only lived at the home when the party happened. Both men have since moved.

``After they arrested him, they didn't ask him where did you get the marijuana or who sold it to you. Almost all the questions they asked him were about Michael Phelps,'' Harpootlian said. He added: ``It was like they were busting the biggest heroin distributor in the country.''

The investigators appear to be trying to build a case against Phelps from others - a tactic normally used to bring down drug dealers with a large amounts of cocaine or methamphetamine, not someone who smoked marijuana five months ago, said Chip Price, a Greenville attorney who has dealt with drug cases for 33 years.

``Never have I seen anything like this on a simple marijuana case,'' Price said.

McCulloch, who said his client was out of town at the time, doubted that anything his client told authorities would assist them in the case against Phelps.

``It seems to me that Richland County has a host of its own crime problems much more serious than a kid featured in a photograph with a bong in his hand,'' he said.

Investigators don't need to have the marijuana Phelps may have had that night to make a case against him, although the lack of physical evidence makes things a lot tougher. They will need several witnesses saying they were at the party, smoked marijuana in that pipe and saw Phelps smoke it too, said Swerling.

There's one more problem with the case, too. Even if Phelps is charged, authorities may not be able to get him back to South Carolina to face a judge. State law only allows extradition for charges that carry more than a year in prison - and possession of one ounce or less of marijuana is a misdemeanor that carries 30 days in jail for first offenders.

Phelps lives and trains in Baltimore, and if Richland County authorities were serious about hauling him in on a misdemeanor drug charge, city police would be willing to help if they can, said Col. John Skinner, chief of patrol for the department.

But Baltimore police don't always extradite people wanted on misdemeanors, Skinner said, in part because prosecutors don't always want to pursue such charges.

``Is the charge serious enough in that primary jurisdiction for them to spend the time and resources to go and bring that person into custody? That's not a decision I could make on their part,'' Skinner said.

---

Associated Press Writer Ben Nuckols in Baltimore contributed to this report.

Rick Steves lights up the marijuana conversation

Travel guidebook author Rick Steves addresses the crowd during the “Marijuana: It’s Time For a Conversation” event at the Kirkland Performing Arts Center on

Katherine Ganter / Kirkland Reporter

Only days after a photo surfaced of Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps smoking marijuana, television host Rick Steves criticized the press for giving the athlete a hard time.

In his quest to decriminalize marijuana, Steves has criticized local media as well.

The travel writer produced a televised “infomercial” out of his own pocket last year to get viewers thinking about the issue, but local television stations, such as KING, KOMO and KIRO refused to broadcast it or offered 1 a.m. Sunday broadcast times.

“If you care about democracy and it’s considered courageous to talk about a law that is counter-productive, we’ve got problems,” he said.

Host to a sold-out crowd Feb. 4 at the Kirkland Performance Center, Steves and other speakers such as State Rep. Roger Goodman (D-Kirkland) discussed the history of marijuana laws and their effects for the “Marijuana: It’s time for a Conversation” program.

He took the opportunity to criticize local media companies for failing to foster a dialogue on the issue, claiming the law is more costly than the drug problem. Steves did acknowledge, however, a unique advantage in campaigning for the issue.

“Nobody can fire me, basically,” he said amidst a roar of laughter.

Steves screened the station-censored 30-minute “infomercial,” which was filmed at KOMO’s Seattle studios, detailing marijuana’s emergence as a controlled substance after the U.S. prohibition on alcohol was lifted.

Washington State Institute for Public Policy estimates that the state could save $7.6 million a year if the law were changed, based on the 11,553 misdemeanor arrests made in 2007. The heavy influx, said local attorney Ken Davidson of Davison, Czeisler and Kilpatric, could be clogging up the courts. He asked the panel of speakers if using the criminal justice system was an appropriate method to control the drug.

“To file a lawsuit with Superior Court, your trial date is 18 months off,” Davidson noted. “Justice delayed is often justice denied.”

Steves and others also said the mandatory jail time for misdemeanor possession was in part prompting the need for a proposed regional jail, which may be built in the Kingsgate area. According to a 2006 Jail Action Group (JAG) study, about 3 percent of King County misdemeanor inmates were jailed on drug-related charges.

Former director of the King County Bar Association’s Drug Policy Initiative, Goodman supports a full legalization of regulated quantities of marijuana as a “soft” drug.

“We’ve made a lot of progress,” he said of legislative efforts to decriminalize marijuana, including his work with national bar associations, urging them to set up task forces. “Let’s not lock people up so much, let’s provide more treatment opportunities for those who are in trouble. And frankly, let’s leave a bunch of people alone.”

Steves urged the audience to contact their local legislators and councilmembers and talk to them about the issue.

“If I can inspire you to talk about marijuana in polite company, we’re all going to get somewhere,” he said.

Seated in the audience next to Sammamish Mayor Don Gerend and several Issaquah Councilmembers, Deputy Mayor Joan McBride said she was surprised by some of the presentation’s claims, such as the stiff penalties for posession. Possession of 40 grams of marijuana (a little over an ounce) or less in Washington state is a misdemeanor offense that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of one day in jail and a fine of $250 for the first offense. Any amount over that is a felony, which could result in up to a 5-year jail term and a $10,000 fine.

“I’m information gathering right now,” McBride said. “I just put in a call to the chief of police and would like to sit down and talk to him.”

In the state legislature, legislation on decriminalizing marijauna is working its way through both the house and senate. Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle) introduced a bill scheduled for a committee hearing this week. The proposed change would reclassify possession of 40 grams of marijuana or less to a civil infraction.

On the enforcement side, Kirkland Police Lt. Bradley Gilmore said the department hasn’t “noticed an upswing” of illegal marijuana use. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

The KPD made over 200 arrests for marijuana possession last year, making up the majority of local misdemeanor drug arrests. Police have also assigned a detective to serve full-time with the Eastside Drug Task Force (ENTF), a regional drug enforcement initiative.

Light up the marijuana conversation

Contact Rep. Roger Goodman of Kirkland’s 45th Legislative District by sending him a letter to: 320 John L. O’Brien Building, PO Box 40600, Olympia, WA 98504-0600 or by calling him at 360-786-7878. You can also find him online on his official Legislative Web page.

Michael Phelps' marijuana use puts focus on debate over the drug

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Gail Burton / Associated Press

Michael Phelps heads toward reporters at Meadowbrook Aquatic Center in Baltimore to answer questions during a training session Friday.

The Olympic champion's use of pot is far from a novelty in the sports world and leads to a discussion of whether it is much ado about nothing.

By Chuck Culpepper
February 8, 2009

And so suddenly here's marijuana -- yep, marijuana -- hogging itself another heyday, bolting into the spotlight, all but sashaying back into dialogue and shouting, "Hey, I'm still here."

Shadowed in cycles through recent decades while other legal or illegal or performance-enhancing stimulants took turns getting all the hype, marijuana has just hollered in the case of merely the most-decorated Olympian in history, Michael Phelps. It has tried to yell from the recent past of the Super Bowl most valuable player, who alighted at Disney World only four months after a forgotten arrest.

It has appeared this week in the suitcase of an arrested college basketball point guard at an airport, and this winter in the possession of a former Dallas receiver, and a Seattle linebacker, and a Florida State receiver, and a retired NBA forward/center, and amid a Japanese sumo wrestling scandal if you can believe such, and in November with a New York Jets defensive end, and last spring in that bellwether moment on talk radio, when Dallas Mavericks forward Josh Howard readily said he enjoyed an inhale.

Marijuana? Who knew? Yeah, well, OK, pretty much everybody did.

"It has been constant in terms of it being the most popular of the illicit drugs," said Roger Roffman, a professor at the University of Washington, whose study of marijuana in culture dates clear back to the Vietnam War as a social worker for the Army. Even if its relative usage doesn't match its peak from the late 1970s, Roffman said its No. 1 ranking has remained impenetrable.

It's just that news coverage and human discourse run in cycles, as Roffman reminded, and seldom has any cycle known a louder clash than a 14-time gold medalist heralded as classic Americana ramming into a photo at a party with a bong. Such a noise far occludes even the fact that Santonio Holmes, NFL superhero and honored Disney guest, logged a one-game suspension in October after Pittsburgh police pulled him over, got a whiff of his SUV and asked if he'd been smoking, whereupon, according to their report, he said, "No, but yesterday I was."

Because sports permeates everything, those keen on the marijuana issue all along have seen the case of Phelps and his multitudinous corporate sponsors as a gauge of the American mood circa 2009.

Quiet ruled for days. Then Thursday, Kellogg's halted its sponsorship of Phelps, finding his behavior "not consistent with the image of Kellogg's," the 103-year-old Michigan cereal titan. Subway, another sponsor, opted for censure but not discontinuance. From a far different culture, the Swiss watchmaker Omega deemed it "a non-issue."

"I think there would have been a much stronger and larger fallout" for an American gold medalist 10 or 20 years ago, said Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. In the Phelps brouhaha, Armentano has sensed a profound shift in national dialogue and in media questions, even if he does still chafe when incorrigible headline writers find double-entendres irresistible. In his view, a swift, toned, dominant athlete who "more than the average American is cognizant of what he puts in his body" simply "blows to smithereens" marijuana's images of slackerdom.

"Kellogg's is playing by the rules of 20 years ago," Armentano said. "Subway is playing by the rules of 1986 and the 'War on Drugs.' Those rules have changed."

This time around, in fact, some High Times website readers have called for a boycott of Kellogg's, while Roffman surmises that could lead to opponents calling for a boycott of the boycott of Kellogg's.

That's because as the debate has roiled on and Roffman has followed it, he has detected four sides, all of which, he said, don "blinders" when regarding the other three.

Group 1 emphasizes that most adults who smoke marijuana do so occasionally and "without really any harm," Roffman said, "and that's a very hard thing for us to publicly acknowledge." Group 2 stresses that "a substantial number of marijuana smokers get into real trouble" and "derail" from functionality.

Group 3 considers marijuana central to life on Earth and tends to live alternatively both culturally and politically, yet manages to function. And Group 4 entails medical users, whose approval in various states -- California in 1996 -- has helped soften the stigma over time.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, for example, trains on Group 2 and maintains in its policy statements, "Smoked marijuana has not withstood the rigors of science -- it is not medicine and it is not safe," and, "Legalization of marijuana, no matter how it begins, will come at the expense of our children and public safety." More personally, a Colorado mother of a 12-year-old swimmer said of Phelps on ABC News, "I am absolutely appalled. Honestly, absolutely appalled, sickened and saddened."

Epitomizing the dichotomy of views, 12 states have decriminalized certain amounts of marijuana possession but, Roffman said, "Would the rest of the states pass that? I have substantial doubts about that." In the athletic realm, there have been 1994 Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam, who said on the record that marijuana made him lazy and impeded his progress, and five-time Pro Bowl NFL lineman Mark Stepnoski, who said on the record it helped him sleep and alleviate pain without enduring painkillers or hangovers.

Had Roffman run Kellogg's, he said, he might have opted for a commodity rare in America: nuance. He might have suspended Phelps but said something akin to: We realize he's a role model. We don't believe children and adolescents should smoke marijuana. We also realize Phelps is an adult. We recognize that adults often smoke marijuana without being harmed. We also recognize that because he's a role model, we support his attempt not to repeat this.

That's too shaded for a zippy sound bite, of course, but that's hemp in 2009, when a 47-year-old statesman can admit he smoked during youth and become a decisively elected president, and a 23-year-old athlete can succumb to a South Carolina party photographer and a British tabloid and a ruckus, but with his sponsors reacting variously.

It's a marijuana era clearly new but still perplexing.

"There aren't many places Joe and Mary Public can turn for a balanced, up-to-date, accurate, rational debate about marijuana and all of its glitter and all of its warts," Roffman said. So even though the professor lacks a title just yet for his forthcoming memoir about 40 years following the bouncing dialogue, he does know that the title, for diverse reasons, will include the word "myth."

chuck.culpepper@yahoo.com

One Cop To Another: Don't Arrest Phelps for Bong Photo

Norm Stamper

Retired Seattle police chief, member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

"If someone breaks the law in Richland County, we have an obligation as law enforcement to investigate and to bring charges." So states Sheriff Leon Lott, top cop in this South Carolina jurisdiction of 348,000 residents.

As one cop to another: No you don't, Sheriff. You do not have to arrest the "someone" you're referring to: the serial Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps. Not unless the age-old law in your state has changed since last spring.

In an opinion dated April 17, 2008, Attorney General Henry McMaster wrote, "...it is well-recognized that, by definition, police officers must retain a wide degree of discretion in carrying out their duties of enforcing the laws." Citing numerous cases, your AG returns again and again to the key word, may. As in, "...sheriffs and deputy sheriffs of this State may arrest without warrant any and all persons who, within their view, violate any of the criminal laws of this State..." [Original emphasis retained.] The recipient of Mr. McMaster's letter? Why, the South Carolina Sheriffs' Association, of which you are a member.

I'd be willing to bet your pension, Sheriff, that every police officer in the country knows you have no legal mandate to arrest Michael Phelps. Cops understand that without the discretion granted them in law they'd be paralyzed, unable to do their jobs. Unable to make intelligent decisions about who gets a ticket and who doesn't, who goes to jail and who gets a pass.

Equally important, given the authority, how would you go about making the case? Did you or one of your deputies actually witness the offense (apart from a chance viewing of the ubiquitous photo)? Under South Carolina law, simple possession of marijuana is a misdemeanor. Absent witnesses and/or physical evidence, law enforcement officers must personally witness the misdemeanor (see "within their view," above) in order to make an arrest. Would you round up witnesses who were present during the "crime"? Take statements? Seek out and impound the bong for forensic testing? Would you honestly go to such lengths in order to bust this young man?

In other words, Sheriff Lott, you simply do not have to go after Mr. Phelps. Nor should you.

The drug war mentality is clearly behind all the fuss surrounding the Olympic swimmer and his bong hit. You and I both know there are far more important cases law enforcement should be pursuing. Burglaries, rapes, robberies, car prowls, auto thefts, domestic violence, child abuse, home invasions, carjackings. Arresting Michael Phelps would only add to the absurdity of the situation, and paint you as a grandstander.

Speaking of which, that's a handsome photo of you and yours posing in front of the department's recent acquisition: an armored personnel carrier with belt-fed .50 caliber machine gun. You call it a "peacemaker." I call it a weapon of war. Experience across the country suggests it will soon be employed on the front lines of the drug war, rumbling down a city street to a suspected drug house where everyone in its path, including innocent citizens, is placed at grave and unnecessary risk.

I can hear you now, Sheriff. I don't make the laws, I just enforce them. And you're right. But you and all the rest of us in the field of criminal justice -- cops, prosecutors, judges, prison officials, probation and parole officers -- are in a unique position to influence our lawmakers, and to help bring a measure of sanity to the laws we're expected to enforce.

I'm an active member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. I invite you, Sheriff, to visit our website and to consider joining us. As you'll see, we make a serious and sober argument, along with millions of other Americans, for ending the drug war.

Until that happy day comes, our law enforcers should take a deep breath, calculate the manifold harms caused by the War on Drugs, and embrace fully the discretion they've been granted.