| | Pot activist organizations call for Kellogg boycott
 Pot activists aren't taking Kellogg's very public snub of Olympic champion Michael Phelps lightly: four national organizations are calling for a boycott of all the cereal and snack company's products – and asking their members to contact Kellogg with complaints.
The Marijuana Policy Project, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the Drug Policy Alliance are all urging a Kellogg boycott.
"Kellogg's had no problem signing up Phelps when he had a conviction for drunk driving, an illegal act that could actually have killed someone," said Rob Kampia, the Marijuana Policy Project's executive director.
Kampia called Kellogg's decision not to renew Phelps' endorsement contract "hypocritical and disgusting," adding: "To drop him for choosing to relax with a substance that's safer than beer is an outrage, and it sends a dangerous message to young people."
The negative publicity just might be working: Tuesday, the Phelps brouhaha -- triggered when a picture of the athlete using a bong was published by a British newspaper last week -- took the lead over the tainted peanut butter outbreak in the recorded reply on Kellogg's consumer hot line Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.
"If you would like to share your comments regarding our relationship with Michael Phelps, please press one to speak to a representative," said the recording. "If you're calling about the recent peanut butter recall, please press two now."
Meanwhile, eight people (including the infamous bong's owner) who attended the party Phelps was photographed at were arrested Tuesday. And the bong -- whose owner apparently tried to sell it on eBay for $100,000 -- was confiscated by the police department in Richland County, South Carolina, where the party was held.
The groups calling for the Kellogg boycott are using the Phelps incident as an opportunity to renew their calls for decriminalization of pot.
"It's not just that Michael Phelps did what millions of other twenty-somethings do," Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, told the Associated Press. "It's that he did what over one hundred million Americans have done at least once in their lives, including the president, former presidents, members of the U.S. Congress and Supreme Court."
And NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano wrote on his organization's website:
"It’s not Michael Phelps who should be castigated, but rather it’s the absurd and hypocritical laws that criminalize the behavior of Phelps and tens of millions of other successful and productive Americans like him that is worthy of condemnation."
With wire reports.
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