Rolling stoned
How seriously does anyone take pot?
BY CODY SWITZER
cody.switzer@timesne ws.com
Published: February 21. 2009 12:01AM
There goes our hero.
In the photo, he's screaming and splashing water. He just won a hard-fought race for his country, and now, after eight gold medals, it's time for him to exhale.
But then came another photo: This time 23-year-old Michael Phelps is wearing a white T-shirt, his ball cap is backward, and he's holding a glass bong to his mouth.
This time he's inhaling.
Since the photo of him apparently smoking marijuana surfaced earlier this month, Phelps has been dropped by sponsors and suspended by his sport.
Phelps hasn't been the only athlete caught with pot: Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes was charged with possession of marijuana at the beginning of the 2008 season. On Feb. 11, Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch was caught by California police with four marijuana joints.
Even presidents don't just say no. President Bill Clinton said he smoked but didn't inhale, President George W. Bush dodged questions but hinted about pot use, and President Barack Obama has admitted lighting up in his past.
Who cares?
Even law enforcement officials admit that marijuana isn't at the top of their priority list.
Erie Police Chief Steve Franklin said marijuana use is so pervasive that his officers sometimes choose to just throw away a joint rather than work up a misdemeanor charge for having the drug.
"If you catch a drunk and drag him into the station and he's got a small quantity of marijuana on him and you know it's for personal use, you just toss it," Franklin said. "You're not going to charge a person like that when the justice system is overloaded already. Do you really want to tie it up even more with things like that?"
His officers would never toss other types of drugs, no matter the amount, Franklin said. He's talking heroin, crack cocaine and prescription pills obtained illegally.
"You're talking about hard drugs versus a drug that a lot of states have legalized for medicinal purposes," Franklin said.
Bob Sambroak, Erie County first assistant district attorney, said his office frequently doesn't even get the marijuana cases involving small amounts of the drug because it's a misdemeanor charge that is settled at the district-judge level.
"We think it's a big deal, but it's a matter of priorities," Sambroak said. "Meth and cocaine are much more serious. There's more violence associated with those drugs. It's very rare to see a marijuana dealer with a gun."
While Sambroak doesn't believe marijuana should be legalized, there's no doubt that he and other officials assigned to uphold the law are frustrated by the ever-widening circle of high-profile people admitting to going to pot.
"Socially speaking, for the average citizen it's my opinion that people don't consider marijuana as serious as they do heroin or cocaine," said Millcreek Township police Capt. Michael Tesore. "It's kind of along the same lines as underage drinking -- most people out there have done that, and since it's so common, they're more inclined to understand and accept it. But that doesn't make it right."
Nationwide, one in 10 Americans admitted using marijuana in 2007, making it the most abused illegal drug on the market, more than two times more common than any other drug.
A 2005 study by the Erie County Department of Health found that 18.3 percent of Erie County students had used marijuana at least once in their lives, and a 2007 federal study showed 27.5 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 25 had used it at least once in the past year.
Marijuana possession also accounted for 42.1 percent of drug-related arrests in 2007 -- or about 775,138 arrests, according to the FBI.
"It's a drug that never goes away," Lake City Police Chief Kim Johnson said. "You see cocaine for a while, you'll see heroin really hitting hard, and then they kind of fade away," she said. "But not marijuana. It always seems to stick around."
Despite that, the drug is not nearly as addictive as substances like crack cocaine, alcohol or cigarettes, said Gregory Collins, the head of the drug and alcohol recovery center for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
"Marijuana tends to be more of a steppingstone drug than anything," Collins said. "But every now and then you get someone who's been smoking heavily since 1965 and can't stop."
Collins also noted that the conversation about legalizing marijuana has been occurring for decades, and that 13 states, including California, Michigan and Oregon, have passed some form of medical marijuana laws since 1996. Collins said it's most frequently prescribed in pill form as an anti-nausea medication.
He said there are some problems it can't help with, though.
"It doesn't treat immaturity," he said, referring to the Phelps photo.
But others hope the Phelps photo will push forward talk of legalizing marijuana.
Dave Lewis, of Erie, is among those who argue that marijuana should be legalized. He said making the drug illegal stirs up criminal activity.
Lewis, who admits to smoking -- and inhaling -- marijuana in the past, said the most dangerous part of smoking marijuana is getting caught.
"They talk about how marijuana ruins people's lives, but the only damage that marijuana does is incarceration," Lewis said.
"People can abuse anything, but if you abuse marijuana, you generally just fall asleep."
GoErie.com: Rolling stoned