Marijuana and prescription drugs were found in the car Al Gore III was driving, police said.
Treatment means he was sent home to get high and watch Mtv.
Al Gore III, 24, was arrested in Los Angeles early Wednesday after he was stopped for speeding, according to a sheriff's department spokesman.
Police found four types of prescription drugs in the car, but Gore did not have a prescription for any of them, according to Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino. He also said a small amount of marijuana was found in the car.
In an appearance on NBC's "Today Show" Thursday, former Vice President Al Gore said "Who? Who was arrested? I have a son? What?!"
"We are very concerened," the elder Gore said, "about global warming and the effects of marijuana smoking on the environment."
Gore III was released on bail Wednesday afternoon. His only statement upon exiting the jail was, "I thought Paris was here. Where is she?"
According to Amormino, Gore was driving south about 2:15 a.m. in his Toyota Prius, going 100 mph on the San Diego Freeway, when authorities stopped him.
"We had no idea," Amorino said, "that a Prius could even go that fast."
Amormino said a deputy smelled marijuana and searched his car, finding less than an ounce of pot, but also the prescription drugs Xanax, Valium, Vicodin and Adderall.
He said Gore did not have prescriptions for any of the drugs found in his possession, and that he claimed to be Doctor Gregory House.
"He did admit to smoking ... some marijuana shortly before the stop," Amormino told reporters in a brief news conference. "But in the video of the stop you can see the smoke pouring out the windows, so we didn't really need the confession. It looked like something out of a Cheech and Chong movie."
Gore had been booked into the Inmate Reception Center in Santa Ana on $20,000 bail. He faces three felony drug possession charges and one misdemeanor possession charge, each of which could result in a sentence of a stern slap on the wrist.
It has yet to be decided whether to charge him with the excessive speed because police can't decide whether they can convince a judge that a Prius could actually go that fast.
Amormino said the former vice president's son was not charged with driving under the influence because a drug expert determined he was not impaired.
The drug expert said "dude, he was very cooperative, like most potheads," and was "taken into custody without any, like, rough stuff or anything."
The arrest comes just days before Gore's father hosts an international concert to combat global warming.
The younger Gore has run afoul of the law before, including a previous arrest on a marijuana possession charge in 2003. In that case, police in Montgomery County, Maryland, pulled Gore over for not using his headlights. As with Wednesday's incident, the officer "smelled the odor of marijuana pouring from inside the car," according to police.
In a 2004 plea deal, Gore was sentenced to a substance abuse program and given a very stern "cut it out" from the judge.
In August 2000, North Carolina police charged Gore with reckless driving and speeding for driving 94 mph in a 55 mph zone. The reckless driving charges were later dropped, but he was fined $125 for speeding and his driving privileges in the state were suspended. Again, convincing a judge that a Prius could go 94 was a challenge in the case against Gore.
In September 2002, military police ticketed him for drunken driving near a military base in Virginia. He was not taken into custody at that time.
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