Sarah Palin

Born: Feb. 11, 1964

John McCain picked his running mate from the state that, until recently, had the most liberal marijuana laws: Alaska. A 1975 Alaska Supreme Court decision allowed adults to possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use under the state constitutional right to privacystate constitutional right to privacy. Our first drug "czar" Bill Bennett resigned calling the drug war won after Alaska voters passed a 1990 ballot initiative re-criminalizing the herb. But an appeals court overturned the voters in 2003 and in June 2006, a law signed by then-Gov. Frank Murkowski re-criminalized it again. The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the state and the matter is now before the state supreme court.

According to an August 6, 2006 article in the Alaska Daily News, current Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has smoked marijuana. "I can't claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled," she told the paper. She added that she didn't like it and doesn't smoke it now. (Politicians seem to be the only creatures who don't like smoking pot. How convenient.)

While running for governor, Palin said she doesn't support legalizing marijuana, worrying about the message it would send to her children. But she said she would prioritize methamphetamine enforcement over marijuana.

Palin, 44, is an anti-abortion conservative and lifelong NRA member with two years' experience as governor, following holding office as mayor of a small Alaska town. She and her husband Todd Palin have five children, the youngest of whom was born in April 2008 with Down syndrome. Among the emerging scandals about Palin is the firing of Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, who accused Palin of pressuring him to fire her former brother-in-law, a state trooper. Palin offered Monegan a job as liquor board director (which he turned down).

Palin's father, a schoolteacher, protected his children against the most dangerous drug of all: television. He unplugged the family TV set and put it away during the summer, forcing Sarah and her siblings to play outside and read for amusement. Sarah is reportedly an avid reader and a successful politician who took on the political establishment of her small town and is now in the national spotlight.