Christie vows to ‘crack down’ on pot

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), a potential 2016 contender, said Tuesday that if elected president he would crack down on states that have legalized marijuana.

“Absolutely. I will crack down and not permit it,” he said on “The Hugh Hewitt Show” when asked whether he would enforce federal drug laws that prohibit marijuana even in states that allow sales.

{mosads}“Marijuana is a gateway drug. We have an enormous addiction problem in this country, and we need to send very clear leadership from the White House on down to federal law enforcement,” he continued.

“Marijuana is an illegal drug under federal law, and the states should not be permitted to sell it and profit from it.”

Christie is in New Hampshire as he mulls a White House run.

Christie’s hard-line approach was the norm until recent years, when public opinion has been steadily moving toward acceptance of marijuana. In January of last year, CBS found that a majority of Americans supported legalizing the drug for the first time in their poll’s history.

A recent poll from the Pew Research Center also found that 54 percent of Republicans do not think the federal government should enforce federal law in states that legalize the drug, as Christie is proposing.

Still, the same poll found that conservative Republicans oppose legalizing the drug and that moderate and liberal members of the party are split on the issue.