Phelps swimming for the Bonghitters...

[inthewhitelodge]

Cheers to the iron lung power of swimmers!

[misticglass]

didnt take roor long


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[Spacey]

Ser looking

[Yoda]

This guy is dumb.  He\'s an olympic champion and is set with endorsements that will carry him a long way.  He\'s already got a DUI under his belt and now he puts himself in this situation.  I personally don\'t think he did anything wrong, but why mess with the good thing he had going.  It was a really stupid decision on his part and even more stupid to let someone take a picture of him like that.

[Spacey]

His biggest mistake was letting someone snap that photo.

[Yoda]

I agree

[Spacey]

You are right on about having to govern yourself accordingly especially being an Olympic great.

[Spacey]

Arrests in the Phelps case. Apparently selling the bong for $100,000 was too much attention.

Bong For Sale

[leith]

From NORML.ORG:

The Kellogg Company Drops Michael Phelps, The Cannabis Community Drops Kellogg’s

Dear Friend:

It may have been expected, but that doesn\'t make it right.

Late Thursday, cereal and snack manufacturer Kellogg\'s announced that it will not renew its sponsorship contract with 14-time Olympic gold medal champion Michael Phelps. The company said that Phelps\' recent acknowledgment of marijuana use, and subsequent apology, was "not consistent with the image" of the company.

We disagree!

As NORML wrote earlier this week, it\'s not Michael Phelps who should be castigated, but rather it\'s the absurd and hypocritical laws that criminalize the behavior of Phelps and tens of millions of other successful and productive Americans like him that is worthy of condemnation.

Millions of Americans agree. In fact, in the past week dozens of high profile pundits and commentators -- including Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post, Stanton Peele in the Wall Street Journal, and Doug Bandow in National Review Online -- have demanded a repeal of America\'s archaic and overly punitive pot laws.

Michael Phelps is in good company. Nearly one out of two Americans have admitted using marijuana. Whether or not the most decorated athlete in history chooses to unwind during his off time with a glass of wine or a bit of cannabis is really none of the government\'s -- or our -- business.

Please take time today to contact the Kellogg Corporation. Tell them that you oppose their decision to drop Michael Phelps and that, as a result of their actions, you will not be purchasing any Kellogg\'s related products for the next three months (or until the company decides to reinstate the Phelps as their spokesperson).

There are several ways you can make your opinion known to the company.

* You can call Kellogg\'s main telephone number during east coast business hours, Monday through Friday, at: (269) 961-2000 or toll free at: 1 (800) 962-1413.
* You can e-mail Kellogg\'s consumer services department by visiting: http://www2.kelloggs.com/ContactUs.aspx.
* You can contact Kellogg\'s media relation department at: 269-961-3799 or via e-mail at media.hotline@kellogg.com.
* You can e-mail Kellogg\'s corporate responsibility department at: corporateresponsibility@kellogg.com.
* You can e-mail Kellogg\'s investor relations department at: investor.relations@kellogg.com.
* Or finally, you can write the Kellogg Company a letter at: One Kellogg Square P.O. Box 3599 Battle Creek, MI 49016-3599

When contacting the company, please be polite and concise. Tell them:

"Hi, my name is _____________ and I\'m a frequent consumer of Kellogg\'s products.

Nearly one out of two Americans has used marijuana. This includes tens of thousands of prominent, highly successful Americans -- including our current President. Michael Phelps should not be stigmatized nor condemned for private behavior that he, and millions of others, engage in.

The majority of the public, as well as those in the media, are standing behind Michael Phelps and so am I. I will no longer be purchasing Kellogg\'s brand products until your company reverses its decision and reinstates Michael Phelps as your spokesperson."

Thank you for standing up against the needless discrimination of cannabis consumers. If you wish to discuss this subject in NORML’s online community, visit blog.norml.org/2009/02/06/...

Best Regards,
Allen St. Pierre
Executive Director
NORML/NORML Foundation
Washington, DC
director@norml.org

[SlimPickens]

Legalization/Decriminalization is not Kelloggs fight.  Their primary responsibility is to make food and protect their shareholders.

They had to drop him.  I\'m sure some number cruncher ran the numbers, and releasing him was the lesser of 2 evils.

[SlimPickens]

By Kathleen Parker
Friday, February 13, 2009; Page
Drink and drive and it\'s grrrrrrrr-eat! Smoke pot and your flakes are frosted, dude. So seems the message from Kellogg\'s, which has decided not to renew its sponsorship contract with Michael Phelps after the Olympian was photographed smoking marijuana at a party in South Carolina.

That\'s showbiz, of course, but the cereal and munchie company had no problem signing Phelps despite an alcohol-related arrest. In 2004, Phelps was fined and sentenced to 18 months probation and community service after pleading guilty to driving while impaired. The silliness of our laws -- and the hypocrisy of our selective attitudes toward mood enhancers -- needs no further elaboration. Even so, things are getting sillier by the minute.

Sheriff Leon Lott in South Carolina\'s Richland County has now made eight pot-related arrests based on the snap that shot around the world. Seven were for possession and one for distribution, after deputies used warrants to enter the house where Phelps allegedly was photographed.



Phelps may be next.

In an earlier column, I gave Lott the benefit of the doubt, suggesting that his hands were tied given the laws of the land and South Carolina\'s political climate. I retract the benefit.

Sheriffs, though elected and therefore political, have great latitude as to what crimes they pursue. In a state that recently ranked among the most dangerous in the nation, one would think South Carolina\'s law enforcement officials have better things to do.

Indeed, they do. In our peculiar obsession to track down the Willie Nelsons, the Rush Limbaughs and now the Michael Phelpses of society -- nonviolent, victimless imbibers of drugs -- we\'ve actually made society less safe. That\'s the conclusion of 10,000 cops, prosecutors, judges and others who make up the membership of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

Howard Wooldridge, LEAP\'s Washington representative, is a former cop and detective who lectures civic clubs and congressional staffers on the futility of drug laws that reduce public safety by wasting time and money. He points to child pornography as just one example.

As of last April, he says, law enforcement had identified 623,000 computers containing child pornography, including downloadable video of child rape. Only a fraction of those have been pursued with search warrants, thanks to limited resources and staff shortages. What\'s worse, Wooldridge says, is that three times out of five a search warrant also produces a child victim on the premises.

Another example: Last year, Human Rights Watch reported that as many as 400,000 rape kits containing evidence were sitting unopened in criminal labs and storage facilities. Between the Los Angeles Police Department and the L.A. County sheriff\'s office, nearly 12,000 kits were unopened, according to an NPR report in December.

Arguments against prohibition should be obvious. When you eliminate the victimless "crime" of drug use, you disempower the criminal element. Neutering drug gangs and cartels, not to mention the Taliban, would be no small byproduct of decriminalization. Not only would state regulation minimize toxic concoctions common on the black market, but also taxation would be a windfall in a hurting economy.

No one\'s saying that drugs aren\'t dangerous. Alcohol and tobacco are also dangerous.

And no one thinks children should have access to harmful substances, though they already do. Parents who recoil because their child became an addict should note that prohibition didn\'t help.

What prohibition did was criminalize what is essentially a health problem -- and overcrowd prisons. In 2007, there were 872,720 marijuana arrests in the United States. Of those, 775,137 were for possession. South Carolina just added eight to this year\'s roster.

The greatest obstacle to drug law reform is public fear and politics, says Wooldridge, as he set off to give eight presentations on Capitol Hill yesterday. "I\'ve had staffers tell me that to even call a hearing will get you un-elected."

Which, perhaps, explains why Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) -- the only member of Congress to even approach the subject recently -- has tackled the drug problem through the issue of prison overcrowding. Webb has held two hearings before the Joint Economic Committee on U.S. drug policy and incarceration costs. This year, he has promised to push for a blue-ribbon commission to study why the United States has more people in jail than any other country. The answer -- and the solution -- seems clear.

I\'m not convinced that all drugs should be legalized, but we should at least put prohibition on the table to take another look. In the meantime, Sheriff Lott has some \'splainin\' do to.[/QUOTE]