MARTIN BARTLETT: Phelps Caught In Trickle-Up Drug War

Analysis by ABC-7 Reporter Martin Bartlett

Turns out investigators in South Carolina have launched a full-scale criminal investigation into Olympic hero Michael Phelps’ well documented pot predicament; Kellogg’s has dropped him as a paid endorser because of the recent incident at the University of South Carolina; and he’s been suspended from competitive swimming for three months.

For his part, Phelps has apologized for the photo calling it “regrettable.”

“He feels bad he let anyone down,” one of his agents, Drew Johnson, told ABCNews. “He intends to work hard to regain everyone’s trust.”

Just last week, the ABC-7 I-Team uncovered information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s El Paso Field Office that an estimated 40-60 percent of all illegal drugs that enter the United State come through the El Paso area.

That means there may be a better than 50/50 shot that the marijuana he was using had a stay in our area after being funneled through the hard-fought and blood-stained drug corridors right across our border.

Whether marijuana use and possession should or shouldn’t be illegal, it is. Experts say it’s the pressure of illegality that opens up an entire universe of complications that come along with that fact — especially along the border.

When Phelps, or anybody, purchases illegal drugs in the United States, there’s a startlingly good chance they are lining the pockets of killers. Not just killers in some far off place, but killers in our very own community, according to local FBI experts. They’re the killers that have made Jurez off-limits to many and deadly to hundreds more.