The revelation that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has acknowledged using marijuana — but now thinks it should remain illegal — prompted the Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill to invite MPP to post our thoughts on this issue on the paper’s blog. Previous marijuana discussions on The Hill‘s blog have generated heated debate, so check out the link above and join the conversation.

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Noting that his just-announced vice presidential pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, has acknowledged having smoked marijuana, MPP is urging Sen. John McCain to respect states’ rights to set their own marijuana policies if he is elected president.

On Aug. 6, 2006, the Anchorage Daily News reported:

Palin said she has smoked marijuana — remember, it was legal under state law, she said, even if illegal under U.S. law — but says she didn’t like it and doesn’t smoke it now.

 ‘I can’t claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled.’

The paper quoted Palin as saying she opposed legalization of marijuana because of the “message” that would be sent to her children.

“Governor Palin is one of many millions of Americans who have used marijuana and gone on to live productive, wildly successful lives,” said MPP executive director Rob Kampia said in a statement released a little while ago. “That she used marijuana is no big deal, but what is a big deal is that she thinks that the 100 million Americans who have used marijuana, including herself, belong in jail. That wouldn’t be good for her kids.

“Perhaps most importantly, Alaska is one of 12 states that allow the medical use of marijuana, and one in five Americans currently live in those states. The heavy hand of the federal government has trampled state authority and tried to interfere with the implementation of these state-level medical marijuana laws. The GOP ticket should embrace the time-honored Republican principle of local control by promising to end the federal government’s war on sensible medical marijuana laws in both red and blue states.”

Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have medical marijuana laws. New Mexico’s is the latest, passed by the Legislature last year. Montana’s medical marijuana law appeared on the November 2004 ballot, receiving 62 percent of the vote, exceeding George W. Bush’s total of 59 percent.

Early in the presidential campaign, McCain seemed to support a states’ rights position on medical marijuana, but later backed away from this and became overtly hostile, receiving an “F” grade from Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana.

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It could certainly be interesting though if Senator Obama offered the slot to Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.), who says the following in his new book: “The time has come to stop locking up people for mere possession and use of marijuana. It makes far more sense to take the money that would be saved by such a policy and use it for enforcement of gang-related activities.”

Other then Webb, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico stands out for his yeoman’s work on getting his state to become the 12th to allow medical marijuana access.

On the Republican side, the pickings are pretty slim although most people would probably be interested to know that although former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is no reformer on this issue, he has a very interesting history with medical marijuana and his own personal use in the 1970′s when he admitted, “Smoking marijuana was a sign we were alive and in graduate school in that era.”

Of the above listed, the safe bet says Senator Webb is probably the only one even being seriously considered for the gig. We will see.

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