Chris Christie Calls War On Drugs 'A Failure'

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WASHINGTON -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) has become the latest leader to condemn the now 40-year-old war on drugs.

"The war on drugs, while well-intentioned, has been a failure," Christie said Monday during a speech at The Brookings Institution. "We're warehousing addicted people everyday in state prisons in New Jersey, giving them no treatment."

Christie stressed the merits of legislation recently passed by New Jersey state lawmakers that institutes a year of mandatory treatment for first-time, nonviolent drug offenders instead of jail time. The mandatory treatment program, slated to be put in place in at least three counties during its first year, will eventually expand statewide over the next five years.

Christie, one of the few Republican lawmakers to actively speak out against the effects of America's drug war policies, sought to put a conservative moral spin on his position.

"If you're pro-life, as I am, you can't be pro-life just in the womb," he said. "Every life is precious and every one of God's creatures can be redeemed, but they won't if we ignore them."

Perhaps to blunt conservative criticism of the cost of such a program to the state, Christie argued in favor of the economics of drug treatment over incarceration.

"It costs us $49,000 a year to warehouse a prisoner in New Jersey state prisons last year," Christie said. "A full year of inpatient drug treatment costs 24,000 a year."

full http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/09/chris-christie-drugs-war-on-drugs_n_1659687.html
 
He calls the War on Drugs a failure but then proposes mandatory 1-year inpatient treatment for all drug possessors?

He seems to have duped all the liberal Huffington commenters.
 
This seems like a half-assed concession to win the favor of anti-prohibitionists and of those edging up to it, while still pleasing the other side. On the very surface it seems reasonable. Treatment over jail time, woo hoo! But if you've ever been incarcerated--which I'm sorry to say I have been, once--then you'll know that many if not most of the people in there defaulted on their probation.... by testing dirty. (And of course drugs being the reason many are arrested in the first place.)

Inpatient drug treatment is tantamount to incarceration, is it not? This is just the same old drug war using a new tactic, and it's doomed to failure. You simply can't change human behavior by forcing your beliefs onto other people. Cutting the price tag per head from $49,000 to $24,000 is only a gimmick, IMO. And it's only for first-time offenders? Shit, I hope nobody falls for this crap :p
 
mecaib said:
This seems like a half-assed concession to win the favor of anti-prohibitionists and of those edging up to it, while still pleasing the other side. On the very surface it seems reasonable. Treatment over jail time, woo hoo! But if you've ever been incarcerated--which I'm sorry to say I have been, once--then you'll know that many if not most of the people in there defaulted on their probation.... by testing dirty. (And of course drugs being the reason many are arrested in the first place.)

Inpatient drug treatment is tantamount to incarceration, is it not? This is just the same old drug war using a new tactic, and it's doomed to failure. You simply can't change human behavior by forcing your beliefs onto other people. Cutting the price tag per head from $49,000 to $24,000 is only a gimmick, IMO. And it's only for first-time offenders? Shit, I hope nobody falls for this crap :p
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I don't buy it, I think a politician (especially a republican) has far more to gain by playing the drug warrior than they do by coming out against the war on drugs.

Involuntary treatment isn't ideal, but it's a hell of a lot better than locking people up and throwing away the key.

The one thing I don't understand is the need to make a 'conservative argument' for anti-prohibitionist stances. Aren't conservatives all about small government and free market? Prohibition is the antithesis of those exact concepts, it's all about the government getting involved in your business and spending huge amounts of money telling you what to do.
 
He's a piece of shit

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...cizes-christie-marijuana-video_n_1633909.html

He has no plans to stop locking up nonviolent drug offenders, he had a chance to prove it and vetoed a bill that would decriminalize small amounts of pot preventing the arrest of thousands. Of course he would try to legalize gambling though because he does that so he can relate. People like this guy make me sick. Can't see any perspective but their own. This is an attempt to get rid of some of the people on his case for the bull shit he pulled last month, nothing more.
 
Crankinit said:
I don't buy it, I think a politician (especially a republican) has far more to gain by playing the drug warrior than they do by coming out against the war on drugs.
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Here's the thing: turn-based strategists think more than one step ahead of any move. This particular move is a feint: it's an action that seems like a real move, but is not intended to be successful at what it claims to be doing. Once in place (and given enough time), this strategy will prove ineffective in reducing the rate of drug usage, and will therefore be used as an argument for continued prohibition. His party will say, "we tried a new tactic, but found it no more effective than prohibition."

Involuntary treatment isn't ideal, but it's a hell of a lot better than locking people up and throwing away the key.
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I agree, but Christie's plan only covers first time offenders. People who use will use again, and then what? Jail time. The whole thing is just a political ploy, and I think it's utter bullshit.
 
From what I remember, New Jersey already has drug court, which entails about a year of outpatient treatment if you get busted for possession. So what he's proposing seems like an escalation of the drug war.

It gets closer to how Russia and China treat drug users. I've always figured American conservatives want to turn the country into China, with the non-wealthy working for pennies a day and dissenters warehoused in faith-based slave colonies...
 
Chris Christie is a fat fuck who flip flops more than summer at the Joisy Shooree.

Typical politician
 
While I share many of your skepticism I think its important to note that hes speaking about drugs in washington during a presidential election year. Thats pretty unusual. We are making progress slowly but surely I remember 5 years ago when no mainstream politician would say shit about the war on drugs.
 
It is better than nothing. If Christie does have an ulterior motive behind his plan, let's just hope it backfires, producing even more forward movement. If he really is earnest about the issue, let's be thankful that at least some progress is being made!

I guess I was hoping for bigger strides from both sides, but a tiny step is still welcome and will help a good number of potential drug war casualties.
 
I don't know which is a worse nightmare... jail time, or forced treatment. Making someone get treated as a punishment is still punishment. These kinds of alternative proposals that I'm seeing at the top levels make it clear that exiting the DEA strategy is going to be messy. The policy makers still see drugs as universally bad and want to prevent people from being on them.

I should be free to put into my body whatever I want, and deal with the consequences (positive or negative) accordingly. If the war on drugs were history or at least significantly scaled back, the freed up funding could be put toward voluntary treatment facilities. Then we could let people decide if they want to be clean or not.

Why does this have to be so fucking difficult?
 
Chris Christies idea of treatment for people addicted to drugs is probably just to execute them... Don't believe the title...

If it was up to me ALL DRUGS would be legal and there would be no record or data base of people that buy/use the drugs.... We should be free to take whatever the fuck we want... The only things people should be put into jail for are violent crimes, rape, robbery, child abuse and fraud....%)
 
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