New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called the war on drugs a “failure” during a speech at the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution on Monday, and tied his objection to the decades-long campaign to his anti-abortion stance.

According to Christie, drug offenders in New Jersey are sent “back out on the street after their time of incarceration” with “no treatment.” He said this was the reason “why recidivism rates go up and why they don’t get better.”

“For all first-time non-violent drug offenders, we have to make drug treatment mandatory,” Christie said. “Because, if you’re pro-life, as I am, you can’t be pro-life just in the womb. Every life is precious, and every one of God’s creatures can be redeemed, but they won’t be if we ignore them.”

“We have the obligation to understand that addiction is a disease and that we need to give people a chance to overcome that disease and restore dignity and meaning to their lives,” he added.

Christie also used his time to compare Obamacare’s rules governing Medicaid amounted to “extortion,” and said he was glad that that provision was struck down by the Supreme Court.

“I was glad that the Supreme Court ruled that extortion is still illegal in America,” he said. “And that’s a relief because Obamacare on Medicaid to the states was extortion. It essentially said, you expand your program to where we tell you, and if you don’t, we’re taking all the rest of your money away. Well that’s extortion. It was in a whole bunch of nice words in the bill, but it was extortion. So I’m really glad that the majority of the Supreme Court still supports the proposition, as the former prosecutor, that extortion is still illegal in the country, even when done by the President of the United States. ”

Videography by Sarah Hofmann

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