Al Gore's Son Arrested Again on Drug Charges

July 4, 2007 — -- For the second time in four years, former Vice President Al Gore's son has been arrested on charges of possessing marijuana in his car.

Al Gore III, 24, was driving a blue Toyota Prius on the San Diego Freeway at about 100 mph at 2:15 a.m. Wednesday morning when a sheriff's deputy stopped him at the Crown Valley Parkway exit, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

The deputy smelled marijuana, a quantity of which he found in the vehicle, while also discovering two prescription bottles containing Valium, Vicadin, Xanax, and Adderall.

"He was cooperative and admitted to smoking marijuana very recently," Amormino told ABCNEWS.com. "None of those drugs in his possession did he have a prescription for," said the spokesman, adding that one of the bottles had no writing on it and one had partial writing on it in someone else's name.

The former vice president's son, an associate publisher at Good magazine, was taken into custody and booked into the Santa Ana Inmate Reception Center on narcotics possession charges. Bail has been set at $20,000. The sheriff's department was not sure if Gore's father or mother had contacted their son. Al Gore was traveling back from Europe today, and was not available for comment.

"He's still being booked," said Amormino. The Prius, an environmentally-friendly hybrid car championed by his father, was impounded.

The young Gore has a history of driving violations.

In December 2003, Gore III was arrested on a marijuana possession charge after police in Montgomery County, Md., stopped the Cadillac he was driving for not having its headlights on. Officers found a partial marijuana cigarette and a baggie containing suspected marijuana, according to police.

Gore and two male passengers were arrested and Gore later entered a substance-abuse program that included 12 weeks of urine testing, community service and substance-abuse counseling.

He was also ticketed for reckless driving by North Carolina police in August 2000 when he was clocked going 94 mph, and military police arrested him for drunken driving near a military base in Virginia in September 2002.

Other politician's offspring have had their own brushes with the law.

President George Bush's twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, have both been charged with alcohol-related offenses.

In April 2001, Jenna, who was only 19 at the time, pleaded no contest to charges of underage drinking, and she was slapped with alcohol counseling, community service and a $600 fine. Her driver's license was also suspended.

Just one month later, both the twins were involved in an altercation in Austin, Texas, where Jenna was attending college.

Police cited the twins for violating state alcoholic beverage laws: Barbara was accused of possession of alcohol and Jenna for using a fake ID to try to buy a drink.

These charges were dropped, but the girls had to take alcohol awareness classes and pay a $100 fine.