Despite his disapproval of the country’s mass incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders, Chris Christie remains against the legalization of marijuana, so much so that the New Jersey governor would prosecute states that have legalized the drug if he were elected president.
During an interview on CBS’ Face the Nation Sunday, Christie labeled the war on drugs a “failure,” explaining that drug users convicted of drug crimes needed to be treated foremost as individuals plagued by a disease.
“We no longer can incarcerate our way out of this problem,” the Republican governor said of drug use in America. “We need to get treatment. This is a disease and every life is precious and we need to give people the opportunity to have the tools to be able to deal with their disease.”
“No other disease do we say to folks, ‘No, you don’t deserve treatment,'” Christie added. “Somehow it’s a moral failing. This is a disease like anything else and I think, quite frankly, the war on drugs has been a failure.”
He called on the country to “stop spending money on incarcerating nonviolent people” for drug offenses who are suffering from addiction.
While Christie holds a negative view of the war on drugs, he still opposes the legalization of marijuana. The possible 2016 presidential candidate insisted that he would return federal prosecution to states like Colorado and Washington that have made pot legal.
Christie has explained his opposition to pot legalization in the past, labeling marijuana a “gateway drug.”
“This should not be permitted in our society,” Christie explained earlier this year. “It sends the wrong message. Every bit of objective data tells us that it’s a gateway drug to other drugs. And it is not an excuse in our society to say that alcohol is legal, so why not make marijuana legal? … Why not make heroin legal? Why not make cocaine legal? You know, their argument is a slippery slope.”
