In Asylum's eternal quest to bring our readers the straight dope, we connected with legal expert and funny guy Tom O'Keefe to answer your burning legal questions. If you have a question for him, drop it in the comments.

Q: Can I be arrested for drug possession based on a photo of me taking a wicked bong hit?

Superhuman Michael Phelps's bong photo has triggered a whole mess of questions including, but not limited to: (1) Why the hell is everyone getting their panties in a bunch? (2) Where can I get me that sweet bong? and (3) Will those pictures my buddy just posted of me puffing on Mary Jane get me arrested? Allow me to expose some truths to your likely bloodshot eyes.

Jumping straight to the latter question, this is where my legal expertise comes into play. The answer, my munchies-prone pals, is maybe. Don't mean to harsh your mellow, allow me to explain.

The picture alone can't support a valid arrest for marijuana possession but it may help establish the probable cause necessary for such an arrest. The photo's value depends on what specifics can be gleaned from it: When was it taken? Where was it taken? Who is in it? What where they doing?

After the jump, learn why a bong-hit photo is a particularly bad idea in South Carolina and a few more legal nuggets.

Of course, there really is no way to know from the picture if what you're smoking is weed. Everyone knows that water pipes are often used to enjoy legal, harmless, American-grown tobacco. But in certain states, like South Carolina, possession of drug paraphernalia alone is punishable by a $500 fine. The picture could lead the authorities, as it did in Richland County, to investigate the matter and, after the expense of time and money, come up with additional evidence to support a valid (allegedly) search or arrest warrant.

So does this picture of you -- in which you could be perceived to be steaming the giggle weed -- form the basis for a valid arrest? Would it be enough for a noble officer of the law (sworn to serve and protect the tax-paying citizens of his or her locale) to launch a full-scale investigation? To sign a sworn affidavit, appear before a magistrate, obtain a warrant and, armed to the teeth, search your abode and perhaps put your slacker ass in shackles and throw you in the hoosegow? That depends. If you live in Richland County, well, I think you know the answer. If your humble patch of the American dream lies elsewhere, I can only hope the answer is no. But I'm a lawyer, as far as hope goes, I come up short.

As for the answers to the first two questions:

1. Nothing fuels a media circus like good old-fashioned hypocrisy. At breakfast this morning I asked my cereal box, "Why is a star athlete with a DUI conviction a better spokesperson than one who parties with Sweet Lucy?" The animated feline on the box, wearing a fairly metro bandana, with a name that methinks announces his Italian heritage, growled in response, "They're ... grrrrrrridiots."

2. Thanks to the crack police work of the Richland County Sheriff's department the answer is: "Not on eBay."