I haven't used this blog to write any political arguments in some years. However, I've broken my silence in response to an article calling for the arrest of Michael Phelps. My response to the article's author, Mr. Dan Calabrese:
Rational Application of the Law or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Penalized Real Criminals
Mr. Calabrese,
I pretty sure smoking pot is not, in fact, illegal. While possession would be, taking a “bong hit” I would suspect, is not. By arresting Phelps, Americans who support archaic marijuana policy will likely see their support deteriorate. Arresting Phelps will not only remind Americans that even you can get high and win gold medals, but it is completely unfair to prosecute a celebrity when a common citizen would never be charged for such an act.
Lest we forget how government resources were used to prosecute Bill Clinton over lying about a blowjob while Al-Qaeda prepared its attacks. Obviously, Clinton's indiscretion seems paltry in comparison to the problems we face in 2009. Maybe our focus should have been elsewhere in 1998, perhaps asking the tough questions about our embassy bombings in East Africa.
The fact is, the sheriff is appeasing the Conservative types (i.e. South Carolina voters) who think smoking marijuana is akin to joining the Taliban. He’ll never arrest Phelps and is clearly playing lip service to the constituents so he can appear “tough on crime.”
When it comes to this issue in particular, we are far behind most Western countries in the application of our laws. The United States suffers from much greater problems than kids smoking pot at universities. South Carolina, in fact, has the nation’s highest violent crime rate and their law enforcement officers are certainly better utilized fighting actual crime.
My younger brother, a former Marine, suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and smokes marijuana to stave off the side-effects from the masses of prescription medication he is forced to take. Clearly, I don’t think that marijuana should be illegal; however, like you say, that debate is for another time.
The fact is, our resources are better spent fight crimes that have victims. Certainly, you wouldn’t advocate a police officer giving a citation for jaywalking when an assault was occurring nearby. In the same respect, South Carolina’s law enforcement officers are more useful patrolling the crime-ridden streets of the Palmetto state.
We’ve got a long way to come in this country before we take the moral high ground and be proud again of American values. This starts with education, good social policies and the prioritization of our legal system. Once we stop suing towns for their manger scene and arresting our citizens because they want to smoke a joint, all Americans will be better served.
However, keep up the ranting. I really hope this issue gains even more steam than it all ready has to this point. The marijuana legalization issue will certainly get some support, but most importantly, the issue of how we use our law enforcement personnel. As an American taxpayer, I don’t want my hard-earned money going to pay for people getting put in jail for smoking pot. If America were a safer country, then your arguments would have more merit. However, call me an idealist, but I’d rather the police be arresting murders, rapists, child abusers, stalkers and politicians.
Jason Ward
Rodenbach, Germany
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