If he is elected president, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is pledging to go after legal marijuana in places such as Colorado and Washington state that have legalized it for recreational use.
He said this week on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that he would return federal prosecutions in such states. Federal law labels marijuana a Schedule 1 drug, but several states and the District of Columbia have legalized it.
Asked “if somebody enjoying that now in your state, if you’re president, that is getting turned off?” Mr. Christie responded, “Correct.”
Mr. Christie said he thinks there are probably a lot of people in Colorado “who are not too thrilled with what is going on there right now.”
“And you know the way you win any state? You go out and you tell people the truth and you lay out your ideas, and you either win or you lose. But I don’t believe that people want to be told just what they want to hear. I believe they want to be told the truth as the person who is running sees it. And if I choose to do that, I will go out there in Colorado,” he said.
“And I have done that,” he continued. “When I went out and campaigned for folks in Colorado, I have said it. So, it’s not like I’m going to pander or hide. I’m going to say what I think. And if there’s folks who disagree, they disagree, but I also don’t know that that will be the only thing they will vote on.”
Mr. Christie did say he thinks the war on drugs has been a “failure.”
“Let’s stop spending money on incarcerating nonviolent people because they are drug-addicted,” he said. “Let’s get into treatment and let’s give them the tools to get better, because every life is a miracle.”
Other 2016 GOP hopefuls have taken varied positions on the marijuana issue as they try to balance the party’s reputation for advocating both for tough-on-crime policies and for states’ rights.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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