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Chris Christie would “crack down and not permit” legalized marijuana if elected president, he told conservative Iowa radio host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday.
The pledge from New Jersey’s Republican governor, who is openly teasing a bid for the White House, would be a departure from President Barack Obama, who has made clear that while he doesn’t support full legalization, the Justice Department won’t be getting in the way of the handful of states that have voted to legalize it.
Here’s what Christie told Hewitt:
Hewitt: Right now, we’ve got the states of Colorado and Washington flaunting federal law by allowing people to sell dope legally. If you’re the President of the United States, are you going to enforce the federal drug laws in those states?
Christie: Absolutely. I will crack down and not permit it.
Hewitt: All right, next …
Christie: 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 through the federal law enforcement. Marijuana is an illegal drug under federal law. And the states should not be permitted to sell it and profit from it.
The governor has long opposed both medicinal and recreational marijuana and only allowed tightly restricted use of medical marijuana in New Jersey after a very public lobbying campaign that pitted him against the father of a little girl.
Related: Christie confronted over medical marijuana
Photos: History of marijuana in America
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David McNew/Getty Images
Public perceptions about pot have come a long way, from the dire warnings of "Reefer Madness" to growing acceptance of medical marijuana and the legalization of recreational use.
Photos: History of marijuana in America
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AP Photo
Harry Anslinger was named commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics when it was established in 1930. While arguing for marijuana prohibition, he played on Americans' fear of crime and foreigners. He spun tales of people driven to insanity or murder after ingesting the drug and spoke of the 2 to 3 tons of grass being produced in Mexico. "This, the Mexicans make into cigarettes, which they sell at two for 25 cents, mostly to white high school students," Anslinger told Congress.
Photos: History of marijuana in America
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Hulton Archive/Getty Images
A poster advertises the 1936 scare film "Reefer Madness," which described marijuana as a "violent narcotic" that first renders "sudden, violent, uncontrollable laughter" on its users before "dangerous hallucinations" and then "acts of shocking violence ... ending often in incurable insanity."
Photos: History of marijuana in America
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Marijuana cigarettes are hidden in a book circa 1940. Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937, effectively criminalizing the drug.
Photos: History of marijuana in America
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U.S. Department of Agriculture/AP
Even after Congress cracked down on marijuana in 1937, farmers were encouraged to grow the crop for rope, sails and parachutes during World War II. The "Hemp for Victory" film was released in 1942 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Photos: History of marijuana in America
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Vecchio/Three Lions/Getty Images
A woman buys ready-rolled marijuana cigarettes from a dealer at her door circa 1955.
Photos: History of marijuana in America
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AP Photo
Members of the Grateful Dead talk with reporters from their home in San Francisco on October 5, 1967. The band was protesting being arrested for marijuana possession.
Photos: History of marijuana in America
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Michael Rougier//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
U.S. Customs agents track the nationwide marijuana market during Operation Intercept, an anti-drug measure announced by President Nixon in 1969. The initiative intended to keep Mexican marijuana from entering the United States.
Photos: History of marijuana in America
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Ralph Crane//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
Research scientist Dr. Reese T. Jones, right, adjusts the electrodes monitoring a volunteer's brain response to sound during an experiment in 1969 that used a controlled dosage of marijuana. The tests were conducted at the Langley Porter Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.
Photos: History of marijuana in America
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Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Marijuana use became more widespread in the 1960s, reflecting the rising counterculture movement.
Photos: History of marijuana in America
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Steven Clevenger/Getty Images
People share a joint during a 1969 concert in Portland, Oregon. In 1973, Oregon became the first state to decriminalize cannabis.
Photos: History of marijuana in America
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Dick Swanson//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
Police dogs trained to smell out hidden marijuana examine U.S. soldiers' luggage at the airport during the Vietnam War in 1969. Drug use was widespread during the war.
Photos: History of marijuana in America
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Co Rentmeester/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Marijuana reform was the
Life magazine cover story in October 1969. The banner read: "At least 12 million Americans have now tried it. Are penalties too severe? Should it be legalized?"
Photos: History of marijuana in America
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David Fenton/Getty Images
Protesters wade in the Reflecting Pool at the National Mall in Washington during the "Honor America Day Smoke-In" thrown by marijuana activists in response to the official "Honor America Day" rally organized by President Nixon supporters at the Lincoln Memorial on July 4, 1970.
Photos: History of marijuana in America
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Bill Johnson/Denver Post/Getty Images
Panel members of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse attend a hearing In Denver on January 10, 1972. From left, Dr. J. Thomas Ungerleider, psychiatrist; Michael R. Sonnenreich, commission executive director; Raymond P. Shafer, commission chairman; Mitchell Ware, Chicago attorney; Charles O. Galvin, Dallas law school dean. The comm
