Palin's Pot Problem

[CptSternn]

http://reason.com/news/show/128824.html

Why should other Alaskans be arrested for something Sarah Palin once did with impunity?

When it comes to questions about youthful marijuana use, Sarah Palin is no Slick Willie. "I can't claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled," the Republican vice presidential candidate told the Anchorage Daily News in 2006, before she was elected governor of Alaska.

Although Palin's handling of the issue scores higher on the candor meter than Clinton's, she has the same difficulty reconciling her personal experience with her policy positions, a problem also shared by former pot smoker Barack Obama. None of them has a persuasive answer to the question of why other Americans should be arrested for something they did with impunity.

Pot smokers who are arrested do not typically spend much time in jail. But as a 2007 report from the Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics noted, they pay a substantial cost that includes not only public humiliation and legal expenses but collateral sanctions such as "revocation or suspension of professional licenses, barriers to employment or promotion, loss of educational aid, driver's license suspension, and bars on adoption, voting and jury service."

According to figures released by the FBI this week, about 873,000 people were arrested on marijuana charges in the United States last year, a new record. Pot busts accounted for nearly half of the 1.8 million drug arrests; as usual, the vast majority, about 775,000, were for simple possession, as opposed to cultivation or sale.

This is the fifth year in a row that marijuana arrests have increased, but the upward trend began in the early 1990s. Three times as many people were arrested on marijuana charges last year as in 1991.

The increase in arrests does not correspond to an increase in use; instead, the chance that any given pot smoker will be busted (though still small) is much higher than it was two decades ago. It is also higher than when Palin attended college in the '80s, which is presumably when she tried marijuana.

By way of extenuation, the Anchorage Daily News reported, Palin noted that marijuana "was legal under state law," although "illegal under U.S. law." In 1975 the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution, which says the "right of the people to privacy is recognized and shall not be infringed," prohibits the government from punishing people for possessing small amounts of marijuana in their homes.

A 1990 ballot initiative ostensibly recriminalized all marijuana possession, but in 2003 the Alaska Court of Appeals ruled that "a statute which purports to attach criminal penalties to constitutionally protected conduct is void." The following year, the Alaska Supreme Court declined to hear the state's appeal of that decision.

In 2006 the state legislature, at the urging of Palin's predecessor, Frank Murkowski, passed another law that supposedly made private possession of marijuana for personal use a crime. A judge found that law unconstitutional as well, and the Alaska Supreme Court is considering an appeal of her ruling.

The upshot is that smoking marijuana in the privacy of one's home is just as legal in Alaska today as it was when Palin did it. Evidently she regrets this situation.

As mayor of Wasilla in 2000, Palin championed a city council resolution opposing a ballot initiative that would have legalized marijuana for adults. Last March her administration asked the Alaska Supreme Court to reverse its 1975 decision shielding private marijuana use, arguing that the drug is more dangerous than it used to be.

In other words, Palin got to smoke pot without worrying about legal consequences and now wants to deny that assurance to fellow Alaskans doing exactly the same thing. "Palin doesn't support legalizing marijuana," the Anchorage Daily News reported in 2006, because she worries about "the message it would send to her four kids."

It's Palin's job to teach her children that certain pleasures are reserved for grownups. The government should not continue to arrest adults who are harming no one simply because her children are easily confused.

[PortraitOfSanity]

That's pretty hilarious. Maybe that's where she got the ideas in her head when she said that the fossil record was planted on earth by God to test man's faith in creationism. Or when she said that the dinosaurs were "Devil Lizards" that existed at the same time as humans, and were destroyed by God for their evil ways, and as punishment were turned into oil for humans to use. But seriously, she fucking scares me.

[noveleigh]

Oh my. When I read that, Portrait, I had to google it and see if I could find the story on it. Unfortunately I didn't (even though I'm still laughing cause that sounds just like something she would say), I found another story from the huffington post about how she thinks that dinosaurs and humans walked the earth together. Seriously, how much stupidity can possibly be left in that womans head?!

Last March her administration asked the Alaska Supreme Court to reverse its 1975 decision shielding private marijuana use, arguing that the drug is more dangerous than it used to be.

Now, I don't know much about marijuana....but how is it so much different than it "used to be". Is it not the exact same plant being smoked in the exact same way as it was by our parents? Well, at least those of us with ex-hippy (not quite ex-hippy yet) parents.

[peacebear5028]

It scares the living shit out of me that there is even the vague possibility this woman could be put into public office.
Yet at the same time it makes me laugh uncontrallby.

[TheBloodEternity]

Palin fucking scares me.

[Beneath the Shadows]

Originally Posted by noveleigh

Now, I don't know much about marijuana....but how is it so much different than it "used to be". Is it not the exact same plant being smoked in the exact same way as it was by our parents? Well, at least those of us with ex-hippy (not quite ex-hippy yet) parents.

Well, over the years, pot growers have been doing something that people have been doing with wolves and bananas (yes, I said bananas) for thousands of years... selective breeding. With marijuana, and other similar short-lived plants, the effects tend to be more apparent much sooner than with wolves turning into dogs.

Although I do argue with the "dangerous" part. "Potent" would be a more apt term.

I'm not defending Palin. She can fold herself in half and launch herself at the White House gates from a trebuchet, for all I care.

[TheBloodEternity]

Originally Posted by Beneath the Shadows

She can fold herself in half and launch herself at the White House gates from a trebuchet, for all I care.

*snickers*

[raggedyanne]

Originally Posted by noveleigh

Now, I don't know much about marijuana....but how is it so much different than it "used to be". Is it not the exact same plant being smoked in the exact same way as it was by our parents? Well, at least those of us with ex-hippy (not quite ex-hippy yet) parents.

They've bred the plants to have more THC so it is more harmful

[CptSternn]

Originally Posted by raggedyanne

They've bred the plants to have more THC so it is more harmful

Thats a myth perpetuated by the US government.

It is true there are now higher THC levels, but that being said it doesn't make it any more 'dangerous'. They have been growing high potency bud in Amsterdam for years - no one there has ever been killed by it.

Anyone who has been to Amsterdam knows how silly the US governments comments on marijuana are.

Much like alcohol, if there is a higher content then you smoke less. Either way your not going to die or be harmed by it, contrary to what the US government would have you believe.

[noveleigh]

Ahh, alright. Thanks for clearing that up, everyone.

[Resurrectus]

Originally Posted by CptSternn

According to figures released by the FBI this week, about 873,000 people were arrested on marijuana charges in the United States last year, a new record. Pot busts accounted for nearly half of the 1.8 million drug arrests; as usual, the vast majority, about 775,000, were for simple possession, as opposed to cultivation or sale.

775,000!?!? How on earth does someone get busted for possession to begin with? There must be a lot of people who are stupid enough to smoke in public areas where the piggies regularly patrol.

[Saya]

Anyone see this? Its John Cleese talking about Sarah Palin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMyNk8J1c8g

[noveleigh]

Pfft, I've always loved John Cleese, but now I absolutely adore the man. That was brilliant.

[Saya]

Thats what I said ^_^ he was always my favourite Python, I haven't seen or heard much of him lately but that just totally made up for it.

[noveleigh]

I just found this site -
http://www.palinaspresident.com/

I don't know if it's already been posted. But it's certainly very funny.

The poor deer, though.

[TheBloodEternity]

That's awesome.

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by raggedyanne

They've bred the plants to have more THC so it is more harmful

Everyone knows that the very notion that species can change over time is an evil lie to tempt the faithful from the divinely inspired Word of God in it's pure (King James Version) form.

I'm shocked by Palin's statements. She seemed so promising, and now this.

[Saya]

You thought she was promising? The day after John McCain announced that she would be his VP all her scandals were posted online. I'm still not over how her town was the only town in Alaska to charge r@pe victims for their r@pe kits.

[Jonathan]

Did you really just read my last post and take it at face value?

No sarcasm here, that is seriously so cute that I want to give you a hug.

[Saya]

I took the first paragraph as sarcasm, but the second line wasn't so clear because if you're a literalist and Palin has repented of her sinful past you wouldn't take this as a bad thing.

[Joker_in_the_Pack]

Originally Posted by Saya

I took the first paragraph as sarcasm, but the second line wasn't so clear because if you're incredibly fucking stupid and Palin has repented of her sinful past you wouldn't take this as a bad thing.

Fixed, carry on.