Politics

Chris Christie Invokes Opioid Deaths As Kamala Harris Champions Legalized Pot

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Kevin Daley Supreme Court correspondent
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Former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie condemned Democratic presidential candidate and California Sen. Kamala Harris on Fox News Monday night, after Harris endorsed the legalization of marijuana on a radio program earlier in the day.

Christie said it would be unwise to legalize marijuana amid the ongoing opioid crisis, while suggesting that Harris was callous to laugh about her experiences with the drug during her Monday interview.

“Kamala Harris can laugh all she wants but she should should go to some of these funerals that are happening around the country,” Christie said.

“Maybe Senator Harris should do that and she wouldn’t be chuckling about joy,” Christie added. The New Jersey Republican chaired a White House task force on opioid addiction and pursued drug indictments as a federal prosecutor.

The senator spoke on Power 105.1’s radio show “The Breakfast Club” where she gamely admitted to smoking joints as an undergraduate at Howard University. She jokingly said her experiences with pot keep with her Jamaican heritage — Harris’ mother is Indian and her father is Jamaican. (RELATED: Amy Klobuchar Launches Bid For The Presidency)

Elsewhere in the interview, Harris said marijuana brings “joy” which should not be denied to users.

Senate Democrats introduced legislation Friday providing for the decriminalization of cannabis at the federal level, while allowing states to develop their own regulatory and taxing regimes for its sale and distribution. The bill is called S. 420.

Varying degrees of marijuana legalization fared well at the polls in the 2018 elections. Only one state, North Dakota, rejected efforts to expand legal access to pot. Recent polling data indicates a significant majority of Americans believe the recreational use of cannabis should be legal. As of this writing, 31 states allow marijuana use for medicinal purposes, while nine states have legalized it altogether.

Christie appeared on Fox to promote his new book “Let Me Finish” now on The New York Times bestseller list.

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