New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has a message for people in states that have legalized recreational marijuana use: Enjoy it while you can.
“You take an oath of office,” Mr. Christie, a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, said on “Fox and Friends.” “I take one as governor; I will take one as president that says that you’ll enforce the laws — not just enforce the laws you like. You’ll enforce the laws. And marijuana is against the law in the United States and it should be enforced in all 50 states.
“The same way there are folks out there who don’t like sanctuary cities, and I agree with that — I don’t think we should have sanctuary cities, either,” he continued. “Yet the federal government’s not enforcing the immigration law in those cities. There’s becoming an ethic in this administration that they only enforce the laws that they like.”
Earlier this month, marijuana for recreational use became legal in Oregon following a November referendum. The state joined Alaska, Colorado, Washington state and the District in legalizing marijuana for recreational use.
“And so my view is, people want to change the law, let ’em try to change it,” Mr. Christie said. “But the fact is that’s the law and the Christie administration will enforce it.”
Though polls have shown support for legalizing marijuana, Mr. Christie said he doesn’t think you lose voters by telling them you’ll enforce the law.
“If a large percentage of the people in this country want to legalize marijuana, then I assume that what will happen is Congress will go ahead and legalize it, but you cannot have it both ways,” he said. “You can’t have it where it’s a law on the books and it’s against the law and then you selectively enforce it in certain places. And that’s all I’m saying.”
“If you’re getting high in Colorado today, enjoy it,” Mr. Christie had said Tuesday during a town-hall meeting in New Hampshire, Bloomberg reported. “As of January 2017, I will enforce the federal laws.”
Mr. Christie has described marijuana as a gateway drug and has previously vowed to enforce federal marijuana laws if elected president.
He said elected officials can’t choose which statutes to enforce.
“That’s lawlessness,” he said. “If you want to change the marijuana laws, go ahead and change the national marijuana laws.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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