Chris Christie Capable of Empathy, as Statement on Drug Users Reveals
Chris Christie takes quite a beating from us Inquisitr writers from time to time, as the tough-talking Jersey governor has a tendency to be… less than diplomatic at times.
But Chris Christie actually has a soft side, it would appear, and we are not even totally at all for one second making a fat joke there. Not gonna do it… urge passing… taking a deep breath…
Okay. Chris Christie not being fat. So, drug policy is a place where many on the right preach a hard-line stance (save for the purest of Libertarians), and many on the left preach a sort of permissiveness that many find hard to square.
Comedian Mitch Hedberg, now deceased, once said that alcoholism is a disease, but it’s the only disease you can get in trouble for. And it appears that perhaps Chris Christie agrees, because he showed a tremendous amount of tolerance when it comes to drug policy and drug addiction in recent comments he made on the subject.
During a speech in Washington DC, Christie was also remarkably bipartisan on the issue, explaining that rehabbing drug users can be worked on the same way by both parties. (Which is unusual in today’s polarized climate.)
Christie also countered a popular pro-choice beef — that pro-lifers don’t care about a fetus once it enters the world:
“If you’re pro-life, as I am, you can’t be pro-life just in the womb. Every life is precious and every one of God’s creatures can be redeemed.”
Christie continued:
“But they won’t be if we ignore them. … I believe that the results will show, after this is fully implemented, will be startling because people can be treated and miracles happen every day at these facilities. Lives are restored.”
Interestingly, and again, seemingly breaking from the “personal responsibility” worshipping party line, Christie spoke to the impact on society, not pocketbooks:
“The real reason to do it is to understand that addiction is a disease and that we need to give people a chance to overcome that disease and restore dignity and meaning to their lives. That’s not a Republican or Democratic issue. It’s a bipartisan issue that we accomplished this year.”
Following Chris Christie’s comments on drug policy Monday, Yahoo says he was “reluctant” to delve further into more mainstream drug-related issues, such as decriminalizing marijuana.
