I've been on the internet for a while, and watched some TV, too. It's obvious that people will use drugs (especially marijuana) to get some free clicks or views. We've been urging the Democrats, with only a little bit of success, to use drug reform as bait for votes.
But now even embattled Gov Chris Christie is using drug policy reform as real life "clickbait" to deflect away from his scandals. It's a lame attempt destined to fail, but there he goes attempting it anyway.
During his second inaugural address, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie had some harsh words for our War on Drugs:
“We will end the failed war on drugs that believes that incarceration is the cure of every ill caused by drug abuse,” Governor Christie stated, “We will make drug treatment available to as many of our non-violent offenders as we can and we will partner with our citizens to create a society that understands that every life has value and no life is disposable.”
Nice words, but all hot air, kind of like Sean Hannity's masturbatory threats to make New York a better place and leave it. ("LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!!", as Bush supporters used to say)
Here are the facts: the man who two same names- Chris Chris(tie)- has done almost NOTHING to forward drug policy reform in his own state.
The same day he was calling for an end to this failed policy, two pieces of legislation that would have made pragmatic changes to New Jersey’s marijuana laws were sitting on his desk awaiting signature. The first would have allowed state farmers to receive licenses for industrial hemp cultivation as soon as the federal government changed the national policy on the issue. The other, Senate Bill 1220, would have ensured patients enrolled in New Jersey’s medical marijuana program would be able to receive organ transplants and not be disqualified because of their medicinal use of cannabis
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Let us not forget that he also publicly stated he would not sign any bills to decriminalize marijuana, and fought tooth and nail against the state's mmj program, only relenting slightly when dying children were help up as reason for clemency. Christie ultimately watered down the state mmj program enough to make it far less effective.
The legislature sent the governor a bill in June that would have reduced the number of doctors needed to recommend a minor's participation from at least two to one. The bill also permitted the state's sanctioned marijuana growers to produce as many strains of the drug as they wanted to cultivate, and offer edible products that children would find easy to consume.
Christie refused to budge on the requirement in the law that at least two physicians — a pediatrician and a psychiatrist — sign off on a child's marijuana use, and vetoed that aspect of the bill.
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Apparently the citizens of New Jersey are, in fact, "disposable" to Chrisite. Like most Republicans, he is more than happy to throw citizens into the vast American gulag system merely to send a message to children that a plant he doesn't prefer is "bad".
"I don’t think we should send any sort tacit approval to our children that somehow this is not bad anymore," he said, triggering applause.
The best way for the Democratic Party to stop Republicans from greenwashing themselves to appear supportive of drug policy reform? By actually working to implement drug policy reform. Unfortunately, Democrats like Feinstein in California don't get it, and a Democrat Governor in New Hampshire has publicly declared her contempt for the will of the people and state legislature by promising to kill the historic state legalization bill that recently passed there.
See my recent mega-diary for more updates on national marijuana policy news.