I'm a huge fan of the Olympics. Nothing gets my red-blooded American fists pumping in the air with more patriotic glee than watching our nation’s finest athletes put a world-class whoopin’ on perennial powerhouses like Belgium and Botswana. So just imagine my shock when I learned that Michael Phelps— the 14-time gold medal–winning, 23-year-old Olympian—had been photographed smoking marijuana last year.

How could he? Doesn’t he know we’re in a recession? Doesn’t he realize what his indo-induced indiscretion could do to the already struggling economy?! I’m not joking. A 2005 report by a Harvard professor stated that every year, the U.S. spends about $7.7 billion enforcing the prohibition of marijuana. The same report estimates the legalization of weed—if its sale were taxed at rates comparable to those on alcohol and cigarettes—would lead to $6.2 billion in annual tax revenue.Add to that the fact that of the 2.3 million people we have currently locked up, half a million are there due to nonviolent drug-related crimes. That’s 500,000 potential workers not earning an income, not generating taxes and who will probably always have their financial success stunted because our nation’s drug laws are more concerned with permanently branding people “felons” than helping former inmates live productive lives outside of prison.

But now that Michael’s simple ass has been caught blazin’ it up, the drug policy reform this nation needs may be delayed yet again. The Ghosts of Puritans Past have awakened to punish the Olympian, all in the name of setting an example. USA Swimming has banned Phelps from competing for three months; Kellogg’s has dropped their sponsorship of the athlete; and Bernadine Healy, a medical doctor and contributor to U.S.News and World Report, has used it as an opportunity to warn President Obama against reefer reform. On Feb. 4, she wrote “making weed as accessible to our children as cigarettes doesn’t fit with Obama’s words to parents about nurturing their children.”

Oh, my God, the Children! She further states that “in the cannabis-receptor-laden testicles, there is growing evidence that [marijuana] causes mutant sperm.”

Oh, my God, the testicles! All right, Doc Healy, if you wanna have this debate, let’s have it. First, no one is advocating that we start distributing spliffs in home room. Second, if you truly want to protect the kiddies, it’s time to wake up to the fact that those lil’ stinkers are already getting high. Except it’s not just with weed—prescription pills, cocaine and crystal meth are all being abused by teenagers. Using 1950s anti-dope tactics (mutant sperm, come on now!) hasn’t, nor will it ever, work to stem the abuse of these substances.

The reality demands that Obama reform this country’s so-called War on Drugs and let the facts guide future policy. Fact: 42 percent of Americans have smoked some of that Sticky-Icky at least once. Fact: 83 percent of the 400,000 people arrested for possession of marijuana in NYC over the past decade were black or Latino—even though these groups in no way make up a majority of 420 aficionados.

Fact:Two-thirds of the nearly 800,000 people arrested nationwide in 2007 were under the age of 30. Fact: Punishments like community supervision, electronic monitoring and drug counseling prove as much, or more, effective than prison-sentences when trying to prevent repeat nonviolent offenses.

All these facts suggest our current policies have a disproportionately negative impact on both people of color and young people and that our efforts to correct such behavior have failed.

Now I don’t actually expect Obama to spend a lot of time working to legalize marijuana—there are clearly more pressing concerns on his agenda. But isn’t that a pretty good argument for not wasting scarce resources prosecuting Phelps and whoever else enjoys lighting up a bowl, bong or blunt? Don’t we have more pressing problems to which all those billions of dollars could be put to good use? Besides, I’ll be damned if antiquated and reactionary policies cause our gold medal count to fall in the 2012 Olympic Games.