If he continues to promote the lifestyle of a pothead they should take his gold medals away.
Cannot take those away, but there goes millions in endorsement advertisement. However, he may have a future promoting surf boards for beach bum pot heads.
“If he continues to promote the lifestyle of a pothead they should take his gold medals away.”
So, in your opinion when an olympic athlete wins a medal, that medal comes with a guarantee that the athlete will live his/her life in a way that meets your approval? When they don’t meet your approval, then they should forfeit their medals that they earned fairly, from dedication, hard work, and some natural talent.
He isn’t promoting anything. Notice how he isn’t facing the camera? Someone else is promoting this lifestyle, and using Phelps to do it.
How is he promoting it because some jerk snapped a pic with his phone and sold it to the media?
Why take his medals away? Was there a stipulation before the olympics that you forever had to refrain from breaking silly laws the rest of your life?
Here's the deal. The guy is a monster swimmer. You really think he never smoked a little recreational dope all those years of discipline and drive and strength and devotion it took him to become a monster swimmer? Has it occurred to you that pot is a vastly overrated peril?
Do you actually believe that an individual who does "recreational" crystal meth or cocaine or vicodin or any other psycho drug, could even become an Olympic swimmer? Or perhaps you've never known such people?
Obviously, recreational pot interferes about as much as recreational booze with an athletes' ability, character, and performance. As for "promoting the lifestyle," that is hardly justified. There's a lot to be said for the Christian practice of "Live and let live."
In that regard, I suppose we should all give back anything we've ever earned if we ever give into some future "discretion" short of murder or adultery.
Experimenting with pot is as old a vice as any in America, and he may well grow out of it.
And if he doesn't grow out of this kinda behavior, those medals will only serve as a reminder for him, of what he used to be. He won them, and he deserves to keep them.
Good to see a few of the anti-pot dorks on FR are still around.