Chris Christie has Sudden Change of Heart about State Cannabis Laws

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]F[/dropcap]ormer New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie admitted that cannabis is a states’ rights issue after YouTuber Kyle Kulinski confronted him about his anti-cannabis stance at Politicon on Oct. 20. His latest comments are a huge shift from his normal history of animosity towards all things cannabis-related.

“States have the right to do what they want to do on this,” Christie told Kulinski, after being pressed on the issue. But the former governor stopped short of giving his full endorsement, saying, “broad legalization of marijuana won’t, in my view, alleviate or even minimize the opioid crisis.” Kulinski also asked Christie why he doesn’t want to ban alcohol as well, and Christie responded by saying he wasn’t there for the end of Prohibition.

During the 2016 presidential primaries, before he was defeated by Donald Trump, Christie said that he would crack down on states that have legalized cannabis. He made that distinction, even though almost every other contender supported legalizing cannabis to a certain degree. “If you’re getting high in Colorado today, enjoy it,” Christie said. Christie was appointed by President Donald Trump to serve as the chairman of the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission in 2017. As head of the opioid commission, instead of focusing on opioids, a lot of time was spent on focusing on cannabis.

Christie said only a year ago that cannabis proponents want to “poison our kids” in order to make a buck. “Let’s legalize cocaine,” Christie said sarcastically. “Let’s legalize heroin. Let’s legalize angel dust. Let’s legalize all of it. What’s the difference? Let everybody choose.” The majority of Americans disagree with Christie, however, with 60 percent support.

Christie is one of the last people that we’d expect to respect state laws when it comes to cannabis, but his slowing evolving stance is a step in the right direction, and is a welcomed change in federal politics.