At the Voters First Presidential Forum in New Hampshire on Monday, Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) said that the country needs to "embrace" people who are addicted to alcohol and drugs, and provide rehabilitation instead of jail.
Christie was asked by moderator Jack Heath why more isn't being done for people with drug and alcohol addictions. The governor said that his state was "the first in the country to say for non-violent drug offenders no more prison. They're going to mandatory in-patient drug treatment, because this is a disease. The war on drugs has been a failure — well-intentioned, but a failure."
Christie said that "everyone makes mistakes," and society needs to "reach out" and "embrace those people and say, 'If you're not a violent offender, if you're not dealing drugs to our children, we need to get you treatment rather than prison.'" He added that addiction can hit anyone, and "we need the country and president to stand up and say, 'This is a disease and we need to fix it.'"
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-warTalking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
-
Crossword: September 14, 2025The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Sudoku medium: September 14, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school massSpeed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambushSpeed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside homespeed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confessionspeed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulderspeed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
