Phelps! I need somebody! Phelps! Not just anybody!

Having worked in a photo lab, I know firsthand the number of pictures young (and not so young) people take while doing drugs.  Mostly it's underage drinking and smoking the reef, but sometimes I'd see something particularly stupid, like folks posing with homegrown plants.  There is a limit to what is overlooked, but if you reported all of it to the cops, half of Keene State would be at Westmoreland County Farm.  Or at least not be in college.

Considering the vast amount of photographic evidence of drug-use that exists and is not investigated, it would be a bunch of bullshizzle if Michael Phelps was arrested (if you don't know anything about the olympic medalists recent psuedo-scandal, click here).  If his endorsements abandon him, so be it.  That's what you get for being an international celebrity who isn't careful about having his picture taken.  But jail?  

Some have brought up Phelps status as a role model, claiming this surely obligates him to some sort of punishment.  To this, I can only wonder why it is we choose professional athletes as role models anyway.  They play sports well; I see no correlation to moral fiber.  And what's a little weed compared to Kobe's rape allegations?  Or the OJ Simpson trial?  

On a note of local news, NH state rep (Dem) Steven Lindsey is working on a bill to decriminalize marijuana in quantities up to an ounce.  Lindsey can often be seen about the town of Keene, usually gnawing (or maybe the proper term is gumming - I forget) persistently at a cigar butt.  The biggest effect this bill could have, I imagine, is on the dollar amount the city collects from possession and distribution fines.  For that reason alone, I suspect it will not pass.  

  One fellow is quoted in the Keene Sentinel article on the subject, as having seen, "countless examples of young people unable to hold jobs or care for their children because of frequent marijuana use."  

I've seen countless examples of people unable to provide for a multitude of reasons, and can't help but wonder if those who fail because of marijuana wouldn't replace the substance with alternative reasoning, were weed not a readily available excuse.