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NJ Governor Chris Christie calls war on drugs a 'failure'
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| Contributor | CincinnatiReds1990 |
| Last Edited | CincinnatiReds1990 Jul 12, 2012 01:40pm |
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| Category | Statement |
| Author | Brett Wilkins |
| News Date | Thursday, July 12, 2012 07:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Washington - New Jersey's Republican governor has joined a long and growing list of politicians from both sides of the political aisle in slamming the 40-year war on drugs as a failure.
Speaking Monday at a Washington, D.C. event hosted by the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization, Gov. Chris Christie had harsh words for the drug war began by President Richard Nixon in 1971 and accelerated by Ronald Reagan a decade later.
"The war on drugs, while well-intentioned, has been a failure," Christie declared. "We're warehousing addicted people every day in state prisons in New Jersey, giving them no treatment."
Christie continued with his public health critique of the drug war, adding that "you can certainly make the argument that no one should try drugs in the first place... but tens of millions of people in our society do every year, and for some people they can try it and walk away from it, but for others the first time they try it they become an addict, and they're sick and they need treatment."
The governor cited the high cost of locking up drug offenders in a time of fiscal crisis, pointing out that it is cheaper to treat than incarcerate addicts.
"It costs us $49,000 a year to warehouse a prisoner in New Jersey state prisons last year," he said. "A full year of inpatient drug treatment costs $24,000 a year."
Christie also referenced his pro-life stance, arguing that "pro-life" doesn't just apply to the unborn.
"If you're pro-life, as I am, you can't be pro-life just in the womb," he asserted. "Every life is precious and every one of God's creatures can be redeemed, but they won't if we ignore them."
Christie touted his state's recently-passed legislation that sentences first-time, non-violent drug offenders to a year of drug treatment instead of prison as model legislation worthy of emulation.
Gov. Christie's relatively progressive stance stands squarely at odds with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's position on |
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