"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.
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.
I call bull on this one. She enjoyed every puff of that smoke. Alaska has some pretty dang good weed.
These laws should be nation wide. Realize that if you have a job that can get you a random pee test, such as a Commercial Drivers License, failing the pee test still applies. If you have the type of job that allows you to go home and smoke some pot....so what? More power to them.
Thanks for the WHOLE quote Longjack.
It’s hard to misrepresent her true position once her complete statement is known.
And I happen to agree with her, there’s more important things for LEOs to do before they get around to kicking down doors and waving guns in some wild eyed search for a fairly common herb.