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.'"
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