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Ruby Soriano
Professor Batty
English 113B
February 12, 2015
Bad Michael Phelps or Good Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps is one of the greatest Olympic athletes of the 21st
century. He has at most 22 Olympic medals. Eighteen of them are gold, two
are silver and two are bronze. Phelps also carries the most winning medals at
the Olympics. Even though Michael Phelps is an amazing Olympic swimmer
he isnt idolized the same for mistakes he has made. For the mistakes he has
made he shouldnt be looked down upon because there are other successful
people who have done the same as him and the media shouldnt just
scrutinize the ones who havent done nothing.
Marijuana has been around since 2900 BC. Marijuana isnt its only
names, people also call it pot, weed, Kush, Maryjane and many more. This
drug has been a conflict since the beginning of time. People are either
against it or for it, but there is never a mutual agreement if it actually could
be beneficial for people. Millions of people in America are regular users of
marijuana and lead normal lives. (Papa). It is often said that weed does not
have serious side effects when using but, the drug National Institute on Drug
abused states that some side effects are greater and worse than smoking
tobacco. I agree that marijuana does have side effects but not seriously

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dangerous ones. It is true that tobacco does cause serious medical problems
but marijuana has been said that it can treat cancer but also according to the
NIH states that it treats pain and nausea from people who have HIV/AIDS. So,
out of most of these facts and most of them being not so bad, why is Michael
Phelps being judged for smoking pot but not the ones who are users?
In my last paragraph, all it talked about was the facts about marijuana.
Marijuana is a very controversial topic nowadays. For it being a controversial
topic, it attracts the media. Also, because Michael Phelps is a super athlete
he therefore attracts the media as well. By media its mostly the news, social
media networks, T.V., radio, anything you can name.
Michael Phelps was caught smoking pot at a November house party at
the University of South Carolina around 2009. I argue that people and the
media shouldnt be depicted for him smoking pot. There were two sources
that stated that he was on an extended break from swimming after the
Beijing Olympics and winning 8 gold medals. His punishment didnt cost him
his swimming career just took him financially. Kelloggs Cereal didnt renew
his contract and took him off him their cereal boxes. In addition to that,
Phelps was on a three month suspension according to the USOC (United
States Olympic Committee). He did apologizing and qualify that he [I]
engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment.
I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a
youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect
from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not

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happen again. (Papa). In my opinion, I say that Phelps was going to smoke
marijuana whether he was an Olympic athlete or not. Michael Phelps has
been an Olympic athlete since he was 15. Michael was barely a teenager
when he started training so that accounts