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NEWS > SPORTS > DRUG USERS FLOCK TO OLYMPIC COMPETITION TO ESCAPE DRUG CONVICTION
DRUG USERS FLOCK TO OLYMPIC COMPETITION TO ESCAPE DRUG CONVICTION
February 16 2009
Colorado Springs, CO – The revelation that Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps will not face charges after being caught on camera smoking marijuana has inspired a rush of applications to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) in hopes of similarly avoiding prosecution. The Colorado based Olympic organization has been flooded with applications for future Olympic competitions after the revelation of Phelps’s narrow escape. 
The now infamous photograph of Phelps apparently smoking from a bong sparked national controversy, caused the Olympian to lose at least one major sponsor (Kellogg’s), and earned him a three month suspension by USA Swimming. Phelps admitted his “bad judgement” and asked for forgiveness, which South Carolina police have apparently granted.
“We had a photo and we had him saying he was sorry for his inappropriate behaviour. That behaviour could've been going to a party,” Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said. “He never said, 'I smoked marijuana.' He never confessed that.”
The narrow escape for the 14-time gold medalist has inspired the massive influx of Olympic applications with others hoping to avoid prosecution by simply winning multiple gold medals.
“Winning gold medals in the Olympics requires years and years of training, sacrifice, and dedication. It requires native physical ability and a genetic predisposition all of which Phelps has in abandon, and which the average pot smoker generally doesn’t have. That said it is probably a lot easier to win fourteen gold medals than it is to get the drug laws changed,” said Scrape TV Drug Policy analyst Jason Walker. “US policy on marijuana is middle of the road. It’s not nearly as liberal as some countries like say The Netherlands but not nearly as strict as say Thailand. Those laws are flexing a little but the hardliners still believe that weed is somehow fundamentally evil and because of that the laws may never change. Of course normal law doesn’t apply when you are a celebrity and almost seem to work in reverse when you are a genuine American hero.”
Seven other people who were present at the party with Phelps have been charged with possession and are facing a maximum of 30 days in jail or a fine. None of them were Olympic medalists.
“There was at least as much evidence to charge Phelps as there was anyone else at that party but he has obviously walked away scot free and they are taking the brunt of the punishment. Celebrities getting away with things normal people go to prison for is nothing new – look at Michael Jackson or O.J. Simpson – but rarely do we see such clear evidence of the crime and nothing happens, unless you happen to be a cop in L.A. that is,” continued Walker. “One has to wonder what the value of having laws on the books is if people can just evade them by being famous. If things keep going at this rate everyone will just become famous and we will have no need for police. The relevance of the laws isn’t the issue it’s the enforcement that’s problematic. Get rid of the laws if you’re not going to enforce them.” 
>Now thousands across the country are hoping to repeat Phelps’ success both in the pool and in the courtroom.
“We’ve never seen anything like this before. We have a thousand applications coming in everyday. It’s to the point that we aren’t even able to process them properly and we are going to be backed up until at least through
the Winter Games,” said USOC spokesperson Gerry Han. “I never could have imagine that we would have so many applications and from such a diverse group of people.
Realistically of course almost all of them will not make it to Olympic competition never mind win multiple medals but at least they are making a valiant effort to represent their country. Most of the weed smokers I know wouldn’t even have downloaded the PDF never fill it out and send it. I think most of them would be a little surprised though to realize how much effort it does actually take to win Olympic medals. For that reason alone 99 per cent of these applications are going to go nowhere.”
Michael Phelps has had no further comment on the situation, though it’s not clear if that’s a result of being strategic or just being too wasted to care.
Alexi Orton, Sports Correspondent
NEWS > SPORTS > DRUG USERS FLOCK TO OLYMPIC COMPETITION TO ESCAPE DRUG CONVICTION
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