https://youtube.com/watch?v=JPXO4hXHQiU
Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of the state with some of America’s toughest drug laws, says he agrees with President Obama that it’s time to ease some of the penalties for non-violent drug offenders and users. “We don’t need to be locking up people who aren’t the dealers, who aren’t committing other crimes,” he told CNN’s Candy Crowley. “I think there are better uses of our dollars and I think we can rehabilitate those folks.”
Jindal said he was against full legalization, which Colorado and Washington State have recently implemented, but that he’d be open to allowing medical use of marijuana, as long as it’s “tightly regulated” and “for a legitimate medical reason” (medical marijuana is currently legal in 20 states and the District of Columbia).
He did, however, note that he was more interested in other issues: reducing the size of government and stimulating the economy.
Jindal isn’t the only GOP governor talking about marijuana reform: New Jersey governor Chris Christie said in his January inauguration address that he thinks the “failed war on drugs” needs reexamining.