Gov. Sarah Palin tried marijuana

Is anyone surprised that a dynamic, competitive young

woman (a high school basketball star and beauty pageant entrant), who

has become a crusader against the corruption of the GOP establishment,

tried marijuana at some time? Half of all high school graduates try marijuana.

Most reasonable people are not surprised that curious young people

try marijuana -- even if they are athletes, raised in strong families

with good values.

Wouldn't it have been a tragic shame if Sarah Palin -- the 2008 Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States -- had been unlucky

enough to have been arrested, like 800,000 other young people every year?

Isn't it time to acknowledge that marijuana use in not only not

deviant, but not wrong? Doesn't the experimentation with and use of

marijuana by so many national leaders demonstrate that marijuana use

is normal and we should not be threatening an arrest, a criminal record and potential jail sentence to everybody who tries it or uses it?

If Sarah Palin had been arrested for her marijuana use, it is inconceivable that Senator John McCain would have selected her as his running mate, isn't it?

Isn't it time to acknowledge that since past marijuana use is clearly irrelevant in discounting a person's qualifications for national leadership, it is wrong to block the careers to tens of thousands of potential community leaders who have unluckily been caught with marijuana and given a criminal record? Nobody should have a criminal record for possessing marijuana.

Whether marijuana was legal or not in Alaska when Sarah Palin tried it doesn't really matter, does it?

The question is not whether she broke a law that most of us, in our hearts know is wrong. The question is, how long will we keep a law on the books that did not trip her up, but does devastate hundreds of thousands of lives for no good purpose?

Sphere: Related Content