Today is a rant. A rant about how infantile the media is and how infantile the U.S. is in general. About how I am fed up with the propaganda that illegalized marijuana and the repugnance I feel for the whole “puritan ethic” that spawned this continuing fiasco.
To be clear, I do not smoke the ganja. I just can’t do it…even though I love the smell of some of the very high quality stuff and would like to make little sachets for my underwear drawer with it. I. Just. Don’t. And. Can’t. You don’t want to see me on THC. I don’t want to see me on THC. It speeds up my brain even faster than it already is and my physical being can’t catch up. It’s not pretty.
That said…
Who the frak cares that Michael Phelps smoked some weed from a bong recreationally?! He’s 23 years old and I bet a similar percentage of 23 year olds still smoke weed as did when I was 23…and as when my mother was 23. That’s what 23 year olds do. If he wants to play around with (aka experiment?) with an herb that has been around for many millennia…in moderation…why shouldn’t he?
Oohhhh…yeah…we forgot. It’s illeeegal. Here. In the U.S. Because of some very well placed continuing (false) propaganda.
And, oohhhh yeaahh…he’s a “role model” for kids because he’s an Olympian Athlete.
Okay. So maybe it wasn’t the best idea for him to smoke some weed and get caught doing it. For the kids. Okay. Well, he apologized for that…for whatever reason and because of whatever pressure was placed on him. I don’t really think he should have had to do that. But, we do live where we live in the times we live and…
*sigh*
I’m just working myself up over this and I really don’t feel like fleshing this one out. I just don’t even see why I need to. It’s a very cut and dried issue for me: it’s an herb, it’s less harmful than many other substances that are fully legal and even socially acceptable, it’s something that I wholeheartedly believe that the government should legalize and tax the frak 
out of so that we can fund whatever it is that needs to be funded that isn’t getting funded.
To get up in arms about a 23 year old smoking something that our founding fathers grew…for both industrial use, as well as personal use…is just plain preposterous to me. It’s ridiculous.
And it makes me SICK.
There you have it. Talk amongst yourselves. Add a comment or five. Tell me what you think, even (and especially) if you don’t agree with me.
“In the old time…it was not a crime…” ~ Gogol Bordello
Okay. I’ve said my piece for now on this subject. It’s not the end, I can tell you…
See you tomorrow…one way or the other…
© 2009 D. Kessler
February 4, 2009 at 10:14 am
next thing you know, Phelps will be trading in his medals to score something even more hardcore than weed — like a pack of Marlboros!
February 8, 2009 at 11:27 am
I completely agree with you. Although I don’t smoke or ever have, decriminalizing it on a federal level is the best thing we can do. Of course, Texas will probably still keep it illegal, but that’s my f’ed up home state for you!
March 1, 2009 at 3:52 pm
I know it sounds stupid to say that I feel the same way you do about ALL of THIS!
But, I feel the same way you do about all of this, but you said it so much better!
But, then, nobody did do it better than you!