Olympic Double Dope Standards

HI readers, and bleeders

I would not expect any kind of sensible and fair 'drug policy' from the strict Olympic dope police. But recently the issue of 'Marijuana' and SPORTS came up again and spread, like the Blueberry Cheese plant.

For some clarity i would ask the reader to consider the question of DOSE. Pot brownies (that Delpopolo claims to have ate) are often made with less than half a gram of cannabis, and a lower dose is better for having an enjoyable high, opposed to a strong Knock Out dose. Almost everybody i know has learnt this with Pot food.

One wonders about how sensitive the Olympic Drug tests are? how many 'particles or UNITS of cannabis' are allowed in the body. ZERO? or are a few allowed for naturally occuring cannabinoids. And what about naturally occuring DMT in the human brain? All athletes and humans, and many animals, birds, insects and plants have naturally occuring DMT (in varying amounts of UNITS) but trace amounts of it are actually present. Are the Olympic Dope Police aware of this fact? so as to build tests that overlook it? I digress.

I still dream that one day Michael Phelps and Judo fighter Delpopolo, and all the other Marijuana using athletes would come out in support (of small doses, maybe infrequent) but still, come out and say that, for them, Marijauna worked. In fact, these SPORTS characters are what the drug reform movement requires to boost the campaign for responsible drug use, and responsible drug policy. The debate should revolve around dose. Like the question how much SUGAR, how much MEAT and how much ALCHOHOL is healthy for each individual, and, can the individuals and their communities make THEIR OWN regulations based upon their practical knowledge and experience with all Drugs, foods, vitamins, drinks and special E-numbered additive sweeters?

Good day, thanks for bleeding.--Steve Fly

Delpopolo is 23, the same age Michael Phelps was when the swimmer was photographed inhaling from a marijuana pipe in 2009. Phelps, who never failed a drug test, apologized, received a three-month suspension from USA Swimming and is celebrated as the most decorated Olympian in history.

"That was evidence that he does do that," Lee said of Phelps during an interview with USA TODAY Sports on Monday. "And you're still going to be able to achieve your dreams regardless. Look at him. He's awesome. He's the best athlete ever in the Olympics. It's a double standard. If you already make a name for yourself, then what happens afterward really doesn't matter. … I'd rather have my situation (of not going) than getting kicked out of the Olympic Village" like Delpopolo.
-- http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/london/judo/story/2012-08-06/pot-athletes-testing-alcohol/56830434/1

A message to other countries looking to UK Sports

Hi, my name is Steven Pratt, i am 36 years old and I grew up in the UK 1976-2000. I was very FORTUNATE to have had a decent sporting career as a junior swimmer. (8-14 years old). Winning literally hundreds of races including over 20 Hereford and Worcestershire titles, and a douzen Midland District and National titles. I was pretty much unbeatable in Butterfly and Backstroke at the age of 11.

However, after my sports career ended and I could no longer train 8 times a week, i was advised that SPORTS should be my study, and so i studied sports at college, completing a 3 year 'Sports and Leisure studies' course at Stourbridge college. (1993) I gained employment as a Life Guard at the new Crystal Leisure centre in Stourbridge, which replaced the legendary old pool with a new Multi-million pound fun pool: not much fun for serious competitive swimmers though)

After a year or so as a lifeguard I went on to teach swimming in the Dudley area to youngsters for around two years. (and for a while at Brierley Hill Swimming baths, which was demolished under suspect circumstances January 2006. Please seach this blog for 'Brierley Hill' to see more details). All my official (paid) swimming related works ended when i left for America on an intellectual journey. (I should also add that I once gave free swimming lessons to under privaliged children at Layola University, New Orleans in 2003.

Something clicked inside me, when i returned from America to the UK after 4 years swimming in rivers and freshwater lakes such as lake Tahoe and the Feather River, both in California. I realised that swimming in the UK is pretty much limited by the swimming facilities provided, and those facilities are being demolished, at least in my local DUDLEY METRO area. This is a fact i have observed over the last 6 years. This blog lays a testament to these facts.

Stourbridge Baths, Brierley Hill Baths and Coseley Baths have all been demolished, thats 3 pools that would be full of local swimming talent, training for competitive meets and possibly our future National champions? Water Polo, Sychronized swimming and diving could have been praticed in these pools if only they would have been saved. I hope not to sound like a moaning old bitter man, going on about what might have been and what coulda' or shoulda' happened. I find most political activity does not agree with my personal outlook on life, community, health, fitness and goodwill.

In the case of the destruction of swimming facilities by the local Dudley Metropolitan Council (Dudley Metro Culture Police) I cannot say it LOUD and CLEAR enough. Please STOP. Or at least, replace what you knock down with something else, and not a Tesco supermarket, thankyou very much.

As i have been saying for the last 6 years, the voices of the swimmers themselves, and the local community have been totally and utterly ignored on the issue of swimming, but now, during the OLYMPIC fever M.P's all around the country have started popping up with their cheap little speeches about SPORTS and PRESTIEGE and how proud we should be and how we should develope new SPORTS facilities across the country. (Aha, i say to myself, this is a trick, a cheap trick to ride the Olympic fever and come out of it as the good guys again, the saviours who will NOW begin to plan new sports parks, new sports programes and sports sponsorship corporations. Oh, thankyou for doing this, for cutting the blue ribbon. For giving us these new sports centers.

So i wanted to send a message of warning to anybody reading this blog post, SPORTS in Britain have been ravaged and crippled by both Labour and Conservative governments, SPORTS to mean two things: the facilities at which sports take place, and the inherent meaning in the term SPORTS. The Olympics have cost 25 Billion Pounds, 9 Billion of which is from the UK tax payers, or from the people. The three Dudley swimming pools I have mentioned above , together, would have required approx. 4 Million to repair and keep open. And, I estimate by now (August 2012) would have given more than 5 Million unique immersive swimming experiences to the community.

Since the pools were not being built but knocked down in Dudley i turned my interest to the Rivers and Canals, imagining them to be clean enough to swim in at some future point, and what it would take to achieve this, and, if anybody else though it worth doing. From that point i discovered the impossibility of swimming in the Stour due to pollution and obstructions in the first place. Then, once again i was confronted with the only option of doing it myself, since a meeting with my local M.P did not come to anything, not even an email or call to say No, just iced out: (i asked for funds, or donations to aquire a pair of river waders, some rope, and a hook, to begin cleaning the River Stour).

And so, you see, i found out that in the larger scheme of things, to me, our rivers are far more important than a swimming pool, and if we could maintain a river properly it could provide a free, zero emissions, zero running costs, swimming facility. As with a lake. Cherish your natural water facilities. This is my message.

Steven 'Fly Agaric 23' Pratt
Amsterdam
Aug. 6th 2012.