Chris Christie Uses Recreational Marijuana To Make Point On Sports Betting
New Jersey has gone through a lot over the last year when it comes to the topic of legal sports betting in New Jersey. They have gotten some unfortunate news recently as Attorney General decided not to recommend that the Supreme Court take the case. That being said, the fight is long from over and Governor Chris Christie is still optimistic on the matter. He says he will continue to fight to repeal PASPA and said that if the U.S. Supreme Court eventually rules in his favor, then Monmouth Park Racetrack will provide betting opportunities “inside a week”.
Christie also touched on the fact that the government seems to have a double standard when it comes to controversial topics. While on the radio show “Boomer and Carton” on WFAN, as a guest host Christie said that the federal government has a continued pattern of inconsistency in regards to their standards. Christie said that they pick and choose the laws that benefit them and cited “For instance, the Obama Administration said it was OK to legalize recreational marijuana even though marijuana is still illegal on the federal level, but the Obama administration said 'No' on gambling."
Marijuana is currently classified as what’s called a “Schedule 1” drug, which means that it possesses the following qualities:
- High potential for abuse
- No medical treatment use in the U.S.
- Lack of accepted safety for use of this drug
- No prescriptions can be written for Schedule 1 drugs
With that being said, eight states and the capital of the U.S. have all legalized marijuana for legal recreational use. Christie compared the two saying "They're two vices…you're either for or you're against."
New Jersey’s sports betting case is preparing to go in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. Back in January, New Jersey thought it was on a fast track to legalization but after the election, the Supreme Court wanted to wait to hear from the Trump administration. While the acting Attorney General Jeffery Wall did not recommend the Supreme Court hear their case, that isn’t a nail in their coffin by a long shot. In fact, President Donald Trump himself has advocated for sports gambling in the past. He is a former casino owner and is also a close friend with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Even with that being the case, Christie believes that the Trump administration isn’t interested in legalizing sports betting or marijuana saying "I think they're against both...That's why you go to the Supreme Court -- to try to get them to trump the executive branch,"
Christie explained that the Supreme Court doesn’t even need to go as far as to completely legalize sports betting in New Jersey, but rather relax the state laws that block it. "If they say that states should make the decisions, New Jersey voters have already decided by a two-thirds vote that they want sports gambling, and so that's what we'd do in our state,"
He finished the radio show by saying that he is optimistic that the sports betting states could hear some good news before the 2017 NFL season but “Certainly in time for the Super Bowl”.