The Bong Hit Heard Round The World

So, Michael Phelps did a bong hit. His real crime was being dumb enough to let someone photograph him doing it.

Luckily, thanks to the Super Bowl, the economic crisis, and the Octuplet Lady, this non-story has been for the most part below-the-fold, but still, talking heads are pontificating about Mr. Phelps having made a "mistake", and whether or not we should forgive him (as if any of us had that power).

Let's take this opportunity, however, not to debate whether or or not Michael Phelps made a mistake, but the fact that our prisons are filled with non gold medal winners who made the same "mistake". Let's take a re-look at our idiotic drug laws, and their draconian penalties, and the inconsistent way they are dished out to the haves vs. the have-nots. It goes like this: the "haves" get to apologize, go into re-hab, and get their records expunged, while the "have-nots" get thrown directly into the slammer, Do Not Pass Go.

So, as long as we are so forgiving of Michael Phelps and his mistake, I propose that every Governor issue an immediate unconditional pardon to any non-violent marijuana user (that almost sounds redundant) now doing time for possession, and that President Obama do the same thing for those who are doing time under Federal law.

Of course, Michael Phelps should not go to jail for doing a bong hit.

But neither should anyone else who makes this "mistake".