If you can smoke pot and still manage to be one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen... well, gosh maybe marijuana isn't really that bad after all.

How many people die each year from marijuana use? How about cigarettes? Alcohol? Yet every other commercial during the Super Bowl is of guys putting away six-packs... but I don't see mothers wringing their hands over that. This whole issue is absurd... almost as absurd as the "authorities" pressing charges because of a photograph. So can they prove that there was marijuana in that pipe?

The problem with our society is that-- broadly speaking-- it just isn't made up of adults.

please note that this broken wreck of a man's failure to win any more than a pathetic fourteen Olympic gold medals (so far) is a terrifying warning of the horrific damage that cannabis can do to someone's health—and a powerful reminder of just how sensible the drug laws really are.

My daughter is also 7 but hasn't asked any questions about this. I agree that it's disappointing to see Phelps in this position, but a good lesson that even famous athletes make mistakes and have to pay the consequences.

Raised by a single mother. Feminism causes drug use.

I agree that it's a good opportunity to teach a lesson. In the day and age of camera phones and the Internet, anything you do could be caught on film and posted for everyone to see. So choose your activities wisely. Also, I think it's good for kids to see that Phelps screwed up and will have to face consequences for his actions, be it jail time or losing his promotional contracts.

Explain that the line between substance abuse (didn't he also have a DUI arrest?) and stupidity is not always bright.

Remember kids, you can be anything you want in life even if you smoke pot.
Most NBA basketball players do, Obama has admitted to it and Clinton did as well.

I applaud Phelps for admitting it and not trying to hide something that isn't bad.

Despite the Olympic Gold Metals people need to understand that Phelps is human. He is a 23 year old average male, not God. Yes he is going to make mistakes & mistakes are how young adults learn to mature. I am not saying that what he did was the right choice, but if people sit back & actually realized that Phelps just wants to have a normal life--which is something that will not be easy for him. Parents sit there and criticize him for what he did & claim they have to hide it from their kids. Well maybe if they didn’t hide it then they could use Phelps as an example & teach their kids that if they do something like that it can come back to haunt you & ruin your reputation. What parents what to hide is the fact that their kids will be exposed to it & will probably try it, but never want to give them the proper education or right examples other then “Drugs are bad don’t do them.”

The only reason this is getting so much publicity is because someone wants to make money. If they didn't have something current to feed off of they would find something he did when he was 15 & plaster it all over the front page.

In my opinion it is the illegality of marijuana and not the pharmacology of it that bothers me as a parent. I grew up with some level of exposure to marijuana through my peers and I used it on a few occasions (10-30?). I do not tell my kids that I used marijuana. I do not tell them that it is 'not that bad.' I tell them that it is illegal and that they will receive a substantial consequence from me if I find out that they are anywhere near it. I think the fact that it is illegal also skews the pot culture towards under-supervised and dysfunctional kids.

wake up michael, you have been elevated to an iconic level, and rightfully so. be responsible, be a 23 year old in the comfort of your own home, all eyes are on you, have fun at home with people you can trust,

disappointed mom whose 11 year old daughter has your pictures all over her room.

I couldn't believe it when I heard Michael Phelps had smoked marijuana from a bong. I thought what he did at the Olympics was amazing, and you can't take that away from him. On the other hand, I have to tell you-I am no kid and he was "my hero," but every time I think of him, now, I will remember the picture of him with the bong. Some images you just can't forget. This guy was "a hero" to so many kids. Didn't he realize how many kids looked up to him? I'm sorry, but you know what, he could have went to that party and skipped the bong.
When you are looked up to, like he was, and you are given the title, "hero," you better damn well live up to it. Saying, "I acted in a youthful manner" just doesn't cut it. What he was, actually saying was, "You, too, can smoke pot from a bong and win 8 gold medals in the Olympics." What kind of message is this "hero" sending to our children? "To those who have been given much, much is expected." We expected more from "our Michael Phelps." Shame on you, Michael Phelps, shame on you.

Michael - to have achieved such accolades as you have at age 23 is astounding - to blow it all at one party - shame on you. With two strikes against you - turn your negative road back on to the right one - and choose whatever it takes to keep you there. There are too many kids and adults who look up to you and want the best for you!

The bong use I don't really care about. The SUI - where he might very easily have killed innocent people - is inexcusable. He should have gone to jail for it, and he he still might (if the bong use violates his slap-on-the-wrist PBJ).

I saw a great comment somewhere else:

If you have to use a jock like Phelps as a role model for your kids then you have already failed as a parent.

He smoked some weed. Who hasn't?

This would be a non-issue if he wasn't "THE MICHAEL PHELPS."

Stacey from 2/6 @ 8:46 AM:

I hope you do not live in a glass house. You are making yourself sound as if you are perfect. God has a special place for hypocrites and it isn't heaven.

I wish the world and the people in it could only be as perfect as you portray yourself to be.

Better yet, besides commenting here, why not go out and do something productive so that your kids don't have to look up to a swimmer as a hero. They could just look up to their Mom. Imagine that -- not requiring outsiders to help you parent. Marvelous idea, huh?

He is still a hero. My daughter still idolizes him, and I will explain the marijuana thing to her as a mistake-if she hears of it. I think that the way he and his people have dealt with this has been fantastic. I couldnt imagine living under the microsope he is subject to.

My perception has become better of Michael Phelps becasue it puts him on the same level as me.Hes a HUMAN! and one of the greatest athletes of all time regardless of the photo...The way our society has socially constructed its perception of marijuana is more at fault than Phelps. He is simply experimenting with a substance that is not that harmful when u take Cigarrettes and Alcohol in affect. Americans need to wake up marijuana is not that bad and should be legalized.

If I had children, I would sit them down and explain that the government has been lying about cannabis for over seventy years. Unfortunately we live in a culture where drinking poisonous alcohol is considered OK but using a plant that kills fewer people than aspirin is somehow considered wrong. I will have to explain to my children that they cannot trust their own federal government.

The DUI is something for which there is no excuse. People could get hurt or killed doing that, but apparently that was OK. The double standard here is beyond pathetic.

With respect to the bong incident, the only thing Phelps did wrong was apologize. Had he a spine, he would have stood up for his right to engage in behavior that has never been proven harmful. I find it sad that he caved, and look down on him for it.

Brad, you have no right to "engage in behavior that has never been proven harmful" if it's illegal. Not in the U.S. of A. anyhow. High Times is just down the street, my friend.