Sarah Palin's Stated Positions On Drug Use/Legalization/Marijuana

With the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2016 an open field at this stage and with the possibility that Sarah Palin may choose to run it is important to remove the leftist myths and legends, distortions and calumnies and consider her approach to social/moral issues. It is these issues which have been the subject of perhaps the most gross media/leftist distortion which Palin being categorized as a far right ultra-conservative.

The reality is that in many aspects, as would be fitting for a resident of a common sense, hard working citizens state, Palin's positions are a mix of the most sensible Christian conservatism, community, especially youth welfare concern, and a live and let live libertarianism

Here are some of Sarah Palin's reported positions on the contentious issues relating to "hard" drug use, marijuana, and drug law enforcement. I note especially the concept of  "at home" marijuana use possibly not being a criminal offence-much like tobacco smoking in due course. 

Speaking personally I am now leaning towards the Milton Friedman view on drug laws and note the result of liberalization in Portugal  which has emphasis on rehabilitation where drug crime related offences has dropped markedly as has, perhaps the most significantly, youth usage.

Drugs (wikipedia)

Palin is opposed to efforts to decriminalize or legalize marijuana, which she says sends the wrong message to children.^[66] Palin does not support full legalization of medical cannabis but said, "I’m not going to get in the way of a doctor prescribing something that he or she believes will help a cancer patient."^[67] Palin has admitted to using marijuana, though at a time when doing so was legal under state law. Palin has also said she is more concerned about methamphetamine, which she sees as a greater social threat.^[68]

During her June 12, 2010, appearance on Freedom Watch, Palin elaborated on her stance that even though marijuana should not be legalized, enforcement of marijuana prohibition laws should be made a lower priority: "Well, if we’re talking about pot, I’m not for the legalization of pot because I think that that would just encourage, especially, our young people to think that it was O.K. to go ahead and use it. And I’m not an advocate for that. However, I think that we need to prioritize our law enforcement efforts. And if somebody’s gonna smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody else any harm, then perhaps there are other things that our cops should be looking at to engage in and try to clean up some of the other problems that we have in society that are appropriate for law enforcement to do and not concentrate on such a, relatively speaking, minimal problem that we have in the country."^[69]

On an April 13, 2012, appearance on Stossel, Palin explained that she disagreed with host John Stossel on the subject of drug legalization but reiterated her belief that the government should better prioritize drug laws: "You take even more of a stronger libertarian view than I do on some of those issues, like the War on Drugs. I happen to believe that we need to continue to do all that we can to discourage drug use, especially with our youth. I would like to see, though, law enforcement prioritize its time and resources and not go out and bust a guy in his house, maybe smoking a joint, who's not doing anybody else any harm, and, in the meantime, go out and find the bad guys and you know, try to help keep society safe that way. Just prioritize; use common sense."^[70] 

[edit]                                                                                                                           

Fair use notice: This website contains copyrighted material, the use of which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Excerpts of such material is made available for educational purposes, and as such this constitutes ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Act. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this website is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Original material published on this website may be excerpted and the excerpt reproduced for the purpose of critical reviews. However, such original material may not be reproduced in full on another website or in any manner without prior approval from this website’s owner. In all cases when material from this website is reproduced in full or in part, the author and website must be credited by name and a hyperlink provided to this website.