AMERICA: Michael Phelps appears to have got off relatively lightly for his brush with drugs. Others have not been so lucky
OLYMPIC SWIMMER Michael Phelps was back in the pool this week at Baltimore’s Meadowbrook Aquatic Centre after a British newspaper published a photograph in which he appeared to be taking a hit from a marijuana bong. The 23-year-old gold medallist will not be winning any more prizes until this summer, however, due to a three-month competition ban imposed by USA Swimming.
Kelloggs will allow Phelps’s endorsement contract to expire at the end of this month, explaining that the swimmer’s behaviour doesn’t fit in with the healthy image of the company’s sugary breakfast cereals.
Phelps has apologised for his behaviour at a private party in a South Carolina university dorm room, which was captured on the mobile phone of another guest.
“I engaged in behaviour which was regrettable,” he said, “and demonstrated bad judgment. I’m 23 years old and despite the successes I’ve had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again.”
Two of Phelps’s biggest sponsors, Omega watches and Speedo swimwear, are standing by the Olympic star but if Richland County sheriff Leon Lott has his way, the swimmer’s troubles may just be beginning.
“If we can prove it, we will charge him. And we’re looking into it,” Lott said this week.
“I just don’t think you can have something like this done and publicised and say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and we’re supposed to forget about it. He broke the law. And if we can prove he was smoking marijuana in Richland County, then he can be charged.” A two-time winner of South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers’ Association’s Toughest Cop award, Lott was sounding confident this week that he can secure a conviction against Phelps.
“This case is no different than any other case,” the sheriff told South Carolina’s State newspaper. “This one might be a lot easier since we have photographs of someone using drugs and a partial confession. It’s a relatively easy case once we can determine where the crime occurred.”
Almost 800,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana possession in 2007 and official data suggests that the number of arrests may be rising. A study published last April showed that, between 1998 and 2007, New York City police arrested 374,900 people whose most serious crime was the lowest-level misdemeanour marijuana offence – more than eight times the figure for the previous 10 years.
Nine out of 10 of those arrested were men, although official studies show women are almost as likely to use marijuana; 83 per cent were black or Latino, despite the fact that most pot-users are white.
Drug laws vary throughout the US but most first offenders arrested for marijuana possession escape jail time.
Under South Carolina law, possession of drug paraphernalia is a misdemeanour carrying a $500 fine and up to 30 days in jail.
A minor drug conviction can have a powerful impact on career prospects, however, and for those on parole or probation for other charges, the consequences can be catastrophic.
Tyrone Brown was 17 when he went on probation for taking part in an armed robbery in which $2 was stolen and no one was hurt. When Brown tested positive for marijuana a few months later, a Texas judge sentenced him to life imprisonment for violating the terms of his probation.
Brown, who is African-American, had served 17 years of his sentence when Governor Rick Perry released him in 2007 after the case was featured on ABC’s news magazine 20/20.
Even if the local sheriff presses charges, an expensive team of lawyers should be able to secure a light sentence for Phelps, who said this week that he wants to put the marijuana controversy behind him.
“This was stupid, and I know this won’t happen again. It’s obviously bad judgment, and it’s something I’m not proud of at all,” he said. “I will say that with the mistakes that I’ve made in my life, I’ve learned from them. Every one of them. And I’ve become a better person. That’s what I plan to do from here.”
