Posted on 06/19/2010 9:13:23 AM PDT by nmh
Sarah Palin says recreational pot smoking is "relatively speaking a minimal problem" in America.
...
"I think we need to prioritize our law enforcement efforts," she said. "If somebody's gonna smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody any harm, then perhaps there are other things our cops should be looking at to engage in and try to clean up some of the other problems we have in society."
Allen St. Pierre, the director of NORML, which supports liberalizing drug laws, said Palin's position on pot is perfectly in line with her identity as a politician.
"If you're a populist as she appears to be, it's maybe not that surprising," he told AOL News in a phone interview today.
(Excerpt) Read more at aolnews.com ...
Thank you for clarifying. It’s important to get the quote right, before going off half-cocked like nmh has done on this thread; arguing a point that is not relevant to her quote.
Sarah is dead on with this, in terms of prioritizing limited law-enforcement resources.
we don’t want drunk drivers to drive next to us but liquor is readily available.
I call bull on this one. She enjoyed every puff of that smoke. Alaska has some pretty dang good weed.
She’s right.
Since when is it a conservative ideal to spend lots of money on police and government to pursue citizens that enjoy smoking a dried out plant? Seems ridiculous.
Distortion of the story and her position.
She is on the record for NOT making pot legal. Still holds the position.
However, she recognizes that pursuing user is time consuming process. There are other things much more needful to be done by law enforcement.
I actually agree with part of the libertarian argument: What a grown adult does in the privacy of their own home is not the governments business. However, I add the caveat that if what you are doing, OR THE RESULTS OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING, comes out of the house and causes a danger or burden on society, then it becomes the government’s business.
I’m not in favor of mass pot smoking, but you can’t say she’s not a Constitutional conservative based on this. The most constitutionally conservative people I know share the same view. Conservatives want less government control over the lives of the people. Makes me think of Bill Buckley. Do not confuse social conservative with constitutional conservative.
Saying what she did makes Sarah Palin more popular, not less.
Why don’t you look at the AOL poll and see that 72% agree with Palin on this.
seriously!
I never got The connection between being a conservative and being FOR keeping pot illegal and thus wasting police time/money looking for it.
“However, I think we need to prioritize our law enforcement efforts,” Palin added. “If somebody’s gonna smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody any harm, then perhaps there are other things our cops should be looking at to engage in and try to clean up some of the other problems we have in society.”
Palin then urged law enforcement to “not concentrate on such a, relatively speaking, minimal problem we have in the country.”-—
This thread was posted as a NEGATIVE for Sarah Palin? Really? Wow.
Our taxes have to pay for that.
Too many people not reading beyond the headline again...
“I’m not for the legalization of pot,” said Palin. But “if somebody’s going to smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody any harm, then perhaps there are other things our cops should be looking at....”
Nobody is against pot as much as me, but I can understand someone having her point of view.
Yeah she is right. We tried banning alcohol with prohibition and it was a disaster, with the lasting legacy being organized crime. Alcohol is a far bigger societal problem than MJ.
You’d probably be surprised to learn that the alcohol lobby spends millions per year to supress publicity on all the negative effects of the drug they market.
At the same time, they spend millions (along with law enforcement) lobbying against reform of marijuana laws, and anti-pot publicity campaigns. Pretty hypocritical when you think about it.
In fact, I'll go even farther than she did in that interview and express my opinion that the U.S. would do well to follow Alaska's lead and decriminalize marijuana.
Regards,
Since when do you define what a conservatism is?
You can certainly have your own definition. You’re welcome to it. But most of us know you’re full of crap.
Not to mention the endless revenue stream of assets forfeited.
Why are some people suprised it’s still illegal? Well, it gets you high. We can’t have people walking around doped up and expect everything to continue business as usual. I’m glad it’s illegal because for one thing, the smell makes me sick to my tummy and for another, if it wasn’t our society wouldn’t be functioning to the standards it should. Take something small....you go sit down at a restaurant to eat and your waitress, having just had a pot break, has slurred speech, red eyes, laughs at everything you say, and in the course of asking “how is everything?” ends up snatching fries off your plate:)
However I do agree with Palin that with all the real crime going on out there it shouldn’t be a law enforcement priority.
no WAI!
Hey, when it comes to learning things from each other here, it’s all good. That’ why Free Republic is the #1 site on my browser list. I can get more varied information here, and have more debate with real people, than any other site on the web.
That doesn’t mean I don’t read all sorts of other sites, from the hard Left to the hard Right. You have to travel in big circles to get all the info you can.
But here at FR, we really can talk to and respond to each other.
Thanks, FRiend.
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