Legal Commentary

Is anyone surprised that a 20-something über-athlete millionaire would smoke some pot at a party? My sense is that most people don?t care about this. (I live in Massachusetts, which recently decriminalized possession of less than an ounce of marijuana for personal consumption.)  This is one of those media stories that exists because there's a photo to display - though the Olympian?s lung capacity alone might make a double-hearsay report of the event newsworthy ("Phelps Finishes Off World Marijuana Supply").

?But Phelps is a role model!? some people say. If Phelps is your role model for swimming and now you?re confused and think that maybe you can smoke dope and still win eight gold medals in one Olympics, I say, Go for it. You probably won?t win eight gold medals (or a single silver or bronze) even if you don?t smoke dope, or, for that matter, even if you?re a drug-free teetotaler.  If Phelps serves as a more general role model, then I think we?re all better off knowing that people can succeed in various endeavors without having to be ?perfect? - why let false idols rule our lives?

Here?s a hypothetical question. Assume it?s a jailable offense to smoke dope as Phelps has.  Should Phelps go to prison? Why or why not? Now assume it?s a mandatory minimum two year sentence. Is putting Phelps in dry dock a good use of our limited resources? Perhaps the Phelps story might open up public discussion about the so-called "War on Drugs."

Perhaps I'll raise Phelps?s case Friday at The Road to Prison Reform: Treating the Causes and Conditions of our Overburdened System, sponsored by the Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal at the University of Connecticut School of Law. See the program here.

And on that note, be sure to catch the California Correctional Crisis Conference next month, which former PrawfsBlawg Guest Hadar Aviram is involved with.