OMG, Sarah Palin snorted cocaine!
But as the Drug Policy Alliance's Tony Newman observes at The Huffington Post, the scandal of politicians who used to smoke pot or snort cocaine is not the drug use; it's the hypocrisy of turning around and supporting the war on drugs, which means arresting and punishing people for doing what the politicians themselves did with impunity. For example, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who candidly admitted not only smoking marijuana but enjoying it, nevertheless has presided over an unprecedented crackdown on pot smokers in his city. So far he has not turned himself in.
Call it her "Mitch Daniels problem," although our governor's double standard is a little more obvious. He says it was appropriate that as a youthful drug offender he got off without any prison time, but he now advocates the tough approach for current offenders in similar circustances. I suppose some of these politicians could claim that they've changed their minds about drugs after growing up and learning more about the world, the way parents can justify disciplining their children for the same things they tried as children. But for us to believe it, they'd have to display more sincerity than most politicians can muster.
