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 ...
i agree. I think its time to legalize some drugs for over 18. Keep it illegal for under 18 like alcohol
I agree 100% with Sarah Palin on this.
Frankly, if we had cops going door to door busting people for pot possession and/or use in this neighborhood they wouldn't make it past the first embassy guy with a machinegun ~ and there are a fair number of those folks around.
Really, the "crime" she's referring to would take door to door sorts of raids in neighborhoods which are USUALLY not done in this country.
Conservatives only rarely advocate "door to door" and almost always sarcastically.
It's not currently Conservative policy in this country to advocate door to door raids on private homes for the purpose of seeking out crimes.
I know and agree. It is nuts to have something that grows wild be illegal while something as distructive as alcohol is legal? Both used in the privacy of your home should be perfectly legal.I applaud her for her honesty and there is nothing conservative about telling people what they can and can’t do in their own home.
"If we're talking about pot, I'm not for the legalization of pot,” Palin said. “I think that would just encourage our young people to think that it was OK to go ahead and use 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.”
Some other background:
answers.com (I don't see a date, so this may have changed since the answer)
Is marijuana legal in Alaska?
Yes, to an extent.
Possession: Residents may possess up to one ounce of marijuana for their own personal use in their home. Possession of 1-4 ounces is a misdemeanor, while anything over four ounces is a felony.
Cultivation: The state constitution's right to privacy allows up to 24 plants to be cultivated in one's home. However, maintaining a grow operation of any size outside one's home is a felony.
Sale: Selling less than one ounce is a misdemeanor; more than one ounce is a felony.
The state also has a medical marijuana registry maintained by the Bureau of Vital Statistics.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is known as a staunch social conservative. She's a life long NRA member, belongs to an anti-abortion-rights group called Feminists for Life and opposes civil unions.
But the self-proclaimed "hockey mom" had some youthful indiscretions.
Palin has said she smoked marijuana but didn't enjoy it and doesn't smoke anymore.
"I can't claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled,” she told the Anchorage Daily News in 2006.
At the time, marijuana was legal under Alaska's liberal drug laws.
A 1975 Alaska Supreme Court decision allowed adults to possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use. In June 2006, a law signed by then-Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski re-criminalized the drug. The American Civil Liberties Union later sued the state, alleging that the law violates Alaskans' state constitutional right to privacy.
Palin has said she doesn't support legalizing the drug, fearing the message it would send to her five children.
I agree with her on this issue. I don’t think pot should be legalized, but cops do need to prioritize their time. Focus first on the crimes that hurt innocent people, then, if they still have time for it, then start in on the smaller stuff.
Except alcohol has killed tens of hundreds of thousands...Not to mention the thousands of innocents they killed and injured along the way.
Its certainly not a good thing to smoke pot, but its also not a good thing to drink, but that’s what most people I work with do when they break off from work on Friday.
Drugs, alcohol and other things like porn can all be addictive. I hope people don’t become dependent on any of them and live their lives enslaved to them.
But there are limits to what you or I can do to deal with these matters.
The people who are using the pot will have to figure out that its “good for them” or “bad for them” without the cops knocking on everybody’s door.
I can live with that but legalistic people who are hiding their own faults with moral outrage against “drugs” can’t, so we have all the laws, police etc.
As for what Sarah Palin is said to have said, I don’t know why we are reading about this other than its just more of the trash Sarah Palin propaganda eminating from the Left and RINO’s.
well i wish sarah will go further imho, part legalize it. MAke it same as alochol, illegal for under 18
I second that nomination.
Your title is very misleading. That is not what Palin is saying at all.
Hate to mess with your argument that way, but it can be used to prohibit MJ, booze, and lots of other stuff in a lot of places.
It’s the title of the article...Maybe you should call FOX and demand they change it.
It’s funny how that seems to roll off of people’s tongues so easily? I guess they really have no idea how many people who are professionals do smoke?
I wouldn’t want a person stoned on pot driving a car any more than a person who is drunk driving a car... but if someone wants to do either in the privacy of their own home I really don’t care. As for being addictive... nothing is more addictive than smoking plain ole tobacco.
LOL!
More common sense from Governor Palin. Gawd I hope this woman runs for President.
The leftist argument against that is: <nasal, whiny, whinging liberal tool> "But if they hurt themselves, we'll be the ones to pay for it, so we have the right to limit their freedom!" </nasal, whiny, whinging liberal tool>
They completely and conveniently ignore the "responsibility" part of liberty. If you bring that up, they refuse delivery.
I state my reasoning in the rest of the paragraph.
Her views on drug policy are, I argue, the direct result of her lived experience as an administrator. For Palin, living as she does and being involved in the governance of, her town and her state, meth use is the biggest problem they face in the realm of drug abuse and pernicious community effects.
Marijuana use is relatively harmless to both the user and the community, especially when compared with meth.
Therefore, I am arguing that Palin regards marijuana use as a much lower priority as a law enforcement issue.
I agree with her.
Have I explained my reasoning to you sufficiently?
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