Christie: 'Quack Doctors' Won't Prescribe Medical Marijuana in New Jersey

If there's one thing Gov. Chris Christie is sure about, it's this: New Jersey's marijuana policies will not become like Colorado's or California's.

Christie said Tuesday that he would never sign a bill legalizing marijuana in New Jersey, nor would he lessen restrictions on medical marijuana – which is legal in the Garden State – to the point where access to the substance is as easy to obtain as in states such as California.

"I am not going to turn this into a place where people fly into Newark airport, drive someplace, claim to have a migraine from a quack doctor and get high," said Christie, at an unrelated event in Seaside Park. "That's not happening in our state. That's happening, by the way, every day in Colorado and California, and I'm not going to permit it in this state, not as a former federal prosecutor."

Christie did not say whether or not he would sign a bill which is currently on his desk that would make medical marijuana more accessible to children.

Under the state's current medical marijuana law, access is permitted to children with the consent of three medical doctors. The pending law would change that policy to require just one physician to consent.

"As for children, I'm very reluctant," Christie said. "I've said this before. I'm very reluctant to go down this slope."

"If folks can't get physicians to sign off on this, then that tells me something."

Christie said medical marijuana usage should be used "as a last resort, not as a first resort" for patients.

He said his counsel's office is currently reviewing S-2842, the bill which would lessen the three-physician restriction for children, and that he would make a decision at a later date.