If you’re a frequent reader of my columns, you may recall a piece I wrote over the summer lambasting Michael Phelps for promoting sugar saturated cereals. Well, Mr. Phelps is at it again, this time “caught on tape” smoking marijuana through a bong. 

Phelps has since apologized, calling his behavior “regrettable” and that he demonstrated “bad judgment.”

You can say that again.  As a parent, what do you say to your young aspiring swimmer who sees photos of his hero splashed online and on television with a long cylindrical pipe pressed against his mouth? 

“Oh, that’s nothing son, just Michael Phelps smoking an illegal substance.”

To make matters worse, corporate sponsors of Phelps are standing behind their man of gold.  For instance Omega, the luxury-watchmaker, went so far as to call the marijuana flap a “non-issue” and a private matter.

Huh?

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I understand Phelps is young (23 years old) and that everyone makes mistakes.  But it bothers me when someone as popular with young people as Michael Phelps can make so bone-headed a move and little is done to condemn his conduct.  Especially considering how widely publicized it was!

The main reason why I’m so critical of Phelps – to say nothing of the fact that it’s illegal, and that it is indeed a “gateway drug” to more serious crimes – is that it fries the brain cells in adolescents, the same adolescents who look up to Phelps as someone worth aspiring to be like.

Published in the Journal of Pediatric Therapy, researchers from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia wrote how the undeveloped adolescent brain is compromised by heavy marijuana use, particularly in parts of the brain that control memory, problem solving and decision making.

That research was published last month; a new body of research is building on those findings, using the same tests and analysis that the Philadelphia doctors used.  The latest round of research is taken from a much smaller group of adolescents (14 young men) who used marijuana throughout their teen years. 

Using a type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), researchers found that the lining of these boys’ brains was atypical to the normal brain, or as the researchers put it, there was an “arrest in the development” of the myelin sheath – the white matter that covers the nerve fibers of the brain.  This kind of damage results in impaired brain function, as the brain transmits information at a much slower rate than the non-doped brain.

It really takes a sharp, well-trained mind to be successful and to stand out in today’s competitive world.  Sure, kids don’t have to worry about the job market now, but the imprints marijuana leaves on adolescents developing brains are lifelong, and can literally short-circuit their value and potential to be something great.

Michael Phelps truly impressive performance this summer inspired millions of young girls and boys to learn how to swim.  But this latest flub of Phelps shows he has a lot to learn himself. ]]> http://naturalhealthontheweb.com/mangano-minute/blogs/?feed=rss2&p=232 3