Jim Justice on Drugs

Rated C- by NORML: 100% against recreational marijuana

NORML Politician Info: rated C-
• Candidate: Jim Justice (R - WV)
  Holds office: Governor; Candidate in race for U.S. Senate on Nov.5, 2024
• Summary: MEDICAL USE
• Biography: Gov. Justice has shown support primarily for the legalization of medical marijuana. He is adamantly against the legalization of recreational marijuana.
• Legislation:
• Gov. Justice signed House Bill 2536, which encourages financial institutions to provide services to those involved in the state's nascent medical cannabis program.
• The Governor vetoed House Bill 2079 that sought to allow dispensaries to vertically integrate their activities.
• Comments: "I will say, adamantly, I am 100% against recreational marijuana. But we have a lot of people and families out there who are truly hurting and if medical cannabis can help, we need to do everything we can to make life better for those West Virginians," (3/26/19)

Partnership to bring prevention programs to all schools

Create Narcotics Intelligence Unit strike force

Jobs & Hope: $29.7 million to guide people in recovery

"This started with just a dream," Justice said last week. "We've got drugs affecting every family in this state, one way or another. We have to do something about it."

Jobs & Hope includes $29.7 million in funding for its first year and employs transition agents to guide people in recovery as they overcome obstacles such as transportation and move toward job training.

[Democratic opponent Woody] Thrasher, speaking on MetroNews "Talkline," said the Justice administration has dealt too inconsistently with a pervasive problem. "There is no concerted effort and plan to deal with this problem in West Virginia," Thrasher said. "We have to do better than we're doing.

Jim's Dream: job training program for drug addicts

Why don't we some way, somehow, let our people that are struggling on drugs beyond belief go get treatment for free, provided that they'll come out of treatment and go into some level of training and provided they'll take constant drug tests?

If I'm an addict, and I go to treatment and I get better and then I go into some level of training and I get a certificate, that I will be able to take that to a court and get immediate expungement of a misdemeanor that I have. Not felonies, but a misdemeanor.

Jim's Dream: $10M for equipment at vo-tech training centers

It's going to take some money to do this. Not all the money in the world.

The "J" is going to stand for "jobs." The "I" is going to be "in." The "M" is going to be "making." And the little apostrophe is upside down, and we twisted it around to make a "U." "Succeed." Now, looks a little funny, doesn't it? But it looks pretty much like I'd probably write.

But here's what I think we need to do: I think our best alternative today is the adult training in the education department. And here's the problem: Nobody's really going today. The reason nobody's really going is it's not real training that they can go get a real job. But what I'm going to ask you for is $10,000,000 for staffing and replacement and maintenance of equipment at the training centers, at the vo-tech centers.

Adamantly opposed to recreational marijuana, but medical ok

I want everyone here to understand -- I am adamantly, adamantly, etched in stone, adamantly against recreational marijuana.

We have to have stiffer laws to fix the drug problem

I would propose today if we do this, and those dollars flow, I would propose immediately building a facility in Charleston, one in the Eastern Panhandle, and I know the veterans are waiting on the dollars to come from the fireworks tax and everything to build their facility in Beckley. And I would like to skim off some of this money to help them be able to get that facility built.

Three-pronged attack to go after the drug runners

Jim wants to take the fight directly to the drug dealers, while simultaneously offering West Virginians suffering from addiction the help they need. He believes in a three-pronged attack: go after the drug runners, offer addicts a way out, and create jobs to solve the core problem. As governor, Jim will:
• Stop the flow of out-of-state drug dealers that are poisoning our people. Jim will work with law enforcement to crack down on the supply of illegal drugs coming into West Virginia and crippling our communities. West Virginia cannot win the battle against addiction until we stop drugs from entering the state.
• Provide treatment to West Virginians suffering from addiction.

Support the expansion of drug courts