cannabisnews.com: Transcript: O'Reilly-Zeese Debate Marijuana Policy





Transcript: O'Reilly-Zeese Debate Marijuana Policy
Posted by FoM on January 05, 2000 at 13:30:27 PT
Kevin Zeese
Source: Common Sense For Drug Policy
O'REILLY: Thanks for staying with us. I'm Bill O'Reilly. And in the second Unresolved Problem Segment tonight, should the government prosecute people who use marijuana? Joining us now is a man who doesn't think so. Kevin Zeese is the president of the organization Common Sense for Drug Policy. 
So what should the government do with people who are caught possessing marijuana? KEVIN ZEESE, COMMON SENSE FOR DRUG POLICY: Well, I think we should move toward a decriminalized dealing with possessors as not a criminal offense. We should regulate the sale of marijuana. It's absurd to think that we can really keep marijuana from being a significant business in this country. An ounce of marijuana is worth more than an ounce of gold, and you can grow it in your closet, and so if you think the government can get into people's closets to stop this business, I think you're just not looking at history accurately. O'REILLY: All right. Get -- let's get very specific. What -- what is your vision for marijuana prosecution in the U.S.? ZEESE: My vision in the long run is treating it somewhat like alcohol. However, I would not allow national advertising, and I wouldn't allow national brand names. O'REILLY: So you'd basically legalize it then? ZEESE: Oh, yeah, I think regulate it. I think tax it. O'REILLY: Well, how do you regulate it, though? Tell me how that happens. ZEESE: You regulate it -- you regulate it with age restrictions, with purity controls, with product labeling so that people are given accurateinformation, and... O'REILLY: And then you let...ZEESE: ... you continue -- continue to put a lot of money into prevention programs, and I think you particularly invest in after-school programs for kids to keep them involved in life and not... O'REILLY: All right. So you let...ZEESE: ... giving them time to waste on drugs. O'REILLY: ... Nabisco -- you let Nabisco market it, but you don't let them advertise. You can buy it, but you have to be over 18 or 21, and then it -- you just treat it like alcohol. So now... ZEESE: Right.O'REILLY: But what you do then is that you add another intoxicant to the market. ZEESE: Oh, no.O'REILLY: Alcohol...ZEESE: Let me...O'REILLY: Wait. Wait. Let me finish. Let me finish. ZEESE: It's already -- it's already on the market, and... O'REILLY: All right. It's on the market, OK, but legally. ZEESE: Yeah. Right.O'REILLY: Alcohol is not necessarily an intoxicant. It is in -- when bused, but marijuana is an intoxicant. It's taken, and you get high when you use it. So you -- you add that to society, which is already overwhelmed with addiction problems, and you then say, "OK. We're also going to add this to the -- the drunk-driving situation. We're going to"... ZEESE: Well, look...O'REILLY: And you know as well as I do... ZEESE: Look...O'REILLY: ... that kids can get any -- kids can get pot, too. I know they can. I'm not... ZEESE: They certainly can. In fact...O'REILLY: Sure.ZEESE: In fact, if you ask -- there are surveys done right now of -- of kids. The kids will tell you that 90 percent of them say marijuana is easy to get. They will tell you marijuana is easier to buy than beer, and I disagree with you saying alcohol is not an intoxicant. It certainly is an intoxicant. O'REILLY: Well, if you have one drink, you don't... ZEESE: It's much more serious...O'REILLY: ... buzzed.ZEESE: ... intoxicant than marijuana is as far as its effects on you... O'REILLY: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. If you -- if you... ZEESE: ... and as far as comparing marijuana... O'REILLY: If you smoke one joint...ZEESE: ... and driving, Bill -- as far as marijuana and driving goes, no one advocates marijuana and driving, certainly not when mixed with alcohol, but if you compare marijuana to alcohol and driving, you'll find marijuana to be a much safer drug. O'REILLY: Well, that's your opinion.ZEESE: I'm not advocating marijuana and driving. O'REILLY: That's your opinion, but the -- the drugs... ZEESE: No, it's science. No, it's not... O'REILLY: The DWIs are the same.ZEESE: No, no. Bill, I'm -- I'm talking... O'REILLY: The DU...ZEESE: ... research.O'REILLY: Mr. Zeese, wait. Time out here. ZEESE: I'm talking research, not my opinion. O'REILLY: The DUIs are the same. You're tested with marijuana in your blood. You're tested with alcohol in your blood. You get the same. There's -- you may think it's not as bad, but that's not the way it goes in the law enforcement arena. But now, look, I've got... ZEESE: Well, no, I'm talking about...O'REILLY: ... a couple of things...ZEESE: ... the effect on driving. I'm saying it's more dangerous as far as accidents goes. Alcohol is. O'REILLY: All right. Fine. Whatever it is. What you have here is a situation where you're adding another intoxicant to the market. ZEESE: Not adding. Marijuana...O'REILLY: Legally.ZEESE: ... is as easy to get...O'REILLY: Legally you're putting another intoxicant on the market. ZEESE: No. Here -- here's what you're doing, Bill. You're -- you keep saying adding. What you're doing is you're getting control of an intoxicant that's already on the market. You're getting control of it so we can handle it better as a society. O'REILLY: I don't see...ZEESE: Right now, we're not handling it very well. O'REILLY: I don't see how -- I don't see society handling -- I don't see society handling alcohol real well. So I'm... ZEESE: We're not handling marijuana real well. O'REILLY: ... I'm going to disagree with you there. I'm going to say even if it's legal, they're not going to handle it any better, and it would cause more social problems. Now here's what I would do. ZEESE: I think -- I think we could -- I think we could improve alcohol... O'REILLY: Here's what I would do.ZEESE: Well, I'm not going to give you the last word on that. We can certainly improve the way alcohol's regulated. I think we can -- we can learn from our mistake there. But marijuana's disaster right now. O'REILLY: All right.ZEESE: Seven hundred thousands arrests each year. It makes up half of the drug arrests in this country. We... O'REILLY: Here's what I would do, and then I'll -- you can reply to it, OK? ZEESE: OK.O'REILLY: I believe that you keep marijuana illegal because you here we have another substance. We keep it illegal. But you don't throw people in jail. There's only less than 1 percent of users in jail now, so it's not a big problem. But you don't -- you don't do that. You fine them. You fine them just as you would anybody publicly drunk or whatever. If you're caught with a DUI, if you're caught with marijuana, it's -- I fine you, and you use the money to pay for drug rehab. Now there's a solution to the problem... ZEESE: I'm not against...O'REILLY: ... and that is the perfect solution to it. ZEESE: It's not a complete solution. I think that's a partial solution. I favor the idea of fines for public intoxication. I favor prosecution for driving. I think though -- you're right about those issues. What you don't deal with is -- is the market, and right now, that's... O'REILLY: I don't care about the market.ZEESE: The market's important. The market's where the corruption comes. The market's where the violence comes. The market's where the crime comes. O'REILLY: If you're selling it, I'm going to put you in jail. ZEESE: Well, you're going to have...O'REILLY: I'm going to put you in jail if you're selling it. I don't care. ZEESE: Yeah. Well, you know, then what you're basically advocating is the alcohol prohibition model. That's what... O'REILLY: No, I'm not.ZEESE: That's what we did in the 1920s.O'REILLY: I'm not going to -- I'm not advocating a prohibition model because it's not a situation where it's one or the other. I'm saying... ZEESE: That's what happened in the 1920s. O'REILLY: ... I'm accepting the fact...ZEESE: Bill, history...O'REILLY: ... that you guys are going to use marijuana. ZEESE: Bill...O'REILLY: I'm...ZEESE: Bill...O'REILLY: I'm accepting that.ZEESE: Bill...O'REILLY: I'm accepting that you're going to use it. ZEESE: But you're not -- but you're not -- you're not learning from history. You're repeating the mistakes in history. O'REILLY: No, I'm not!ZEESE: During alcohol prohibition, possession and use was not illegal. O'REILLY: It doesn't...ZEESE: Only the sale was.O'REILLY: All I'm saying to you is...ZEESE: Only the sale was.O'REILLY: ... I don't want to add to...ZEESE: So my point is...O'REILLY: ... society's problems, and...ZEESE: ... your approach...O'REILLY: ... I want to pay...ZEESE: you're going to add to society's problems. O'REILLY: I want to charge these people... ZEESE: Well, Bill, you're adding to society's problems because... O'REILLY: No, you're not.ZEESE: What you're going to have with that approach is a decriminalized consumer making it -- meaning that there's a market there for people to take advantage of dealers... O'REILLY: No, Mr. Zeese. No one has the right... ZEESE: That's what happened...O'REILLY: ... in this country to use marijuana. That's not a God- given right or a constitutional right. ZEESE: No. Of course not.O'REILLY: If you're going to do it...ZEESE: But also -- also, Bill...O'REILLY: ... and you get caught, pay for it. ZEESE: ... where in the Constitution does the government get the power to do what they're doing here? O'REILLY: No. It's against the law. There it is, Mr. Zeese. ZEESE: The law needs to be changed.O'REILLY: OK. We'll let the audience decide. Thank you very much for appearing. ZEESE: Thank you.O'REILLY: And directly ahead, you are getting hosed at the the gas pump. Pubdate: Mon, 03 Jan 2000Source: FOX Television, O'Reilly FactorCopyright: 2000 FOX TelevisionContact: oreilly foxnews.com News Article Courtesy Of MapInc.http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n011/a09.html 
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Comment #13 posted by T.Chandler on January 01, 2001 at 17:16:04 PT:
Let freedom ring....
This is Unbelievable!  The war on drugs should put all it's focus on the hard drugs. Every person alive should know that alcohol is far more dangerous than marijuana ever could be. Anyone one denying that fact is afraid of what they don't know. A billion dollar industry indeed!! I'm baffled that this government of ours hasn't jumped all over it!  
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Comment #12 posted by Michael Ames on October 25, 2000 at 19:30:59 PT:
Marijuana
Mr. Zeese made a statement in his first couple of sentences that help show the improbability of the government to regulate the sale, distribution, and taxation of marijuana. Mr. Zeese stated, "you can grow it in your closet." Mr. Zeese is correct marijuana is very easy to grow and prepare for use,unlike alcohol which takes a little know how and a certain amount of sophistication to make properly. If you can grow a house plant then you can grow marijuana. It's that simple. The government is going to find it quite difficult to regulate and tax what's growing in someones closet as it is finding now in the fight against drugs. We will still need lawinforcement officers or ATF agents out there to bust the non regulated growers of marijuana. Legalization is not the answer to stop drug use. Moralization is. 
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Comment #11 posted by mike enlow on October 19, 2000 at 15:32:15 PT:
legalize drugs
If rape and incest are powerful arguements for abortion rights , why not for the right to get HIGH ? How can we judge the PAIN in another persons' shoes . I never used COCAINE because of LENNY BIAS . My drugs were legal [pizza], F.D.A. safe [ ice cream ] , and cheap [cookies] . We should at least study LEGALIZATION within the five worst blocks of each U.S. city .I use no illegal DRUGS .
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Comment #10 posted by Marijuana consumer on October 09, 2000 at 18:38:20 PT:
He's right the market is the source of the crime..
First of all, you don't see somone smoking a joint then getting up the balls to pick a fight with everyone in the bar, unlike alcohol the more MJ you intake the less agressive you become when was the last time you read, a man smoke a marijuana cigarete today and then brok a bottle over anothers head. But on to Zeese's point the crime involved with marijauna comes from the market. The price of getting caught is where the cost of MJ is founded, I mean it takes nothing to produce but proper breeding dirt and water, therefor its like money for nothing..even less than a pack of cigarettes since almost no preperations must be made. Imagine the possibilities of governmental sales, it would quite simply be a billion dollar industry. So adding to what Zeese has said; stop the illegal market by it making cheaper (wich is QUITE possible seeing how some people spend $100+ for a single ounce of MJ) also making illegal sale highly illegal just as it is with alchohol, relieving deaths accociated with drug deals, corruption and the overall waste of man-power trying to fight the marijuana consumers.
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Comment #9 posted by R Perrymore on September 24, 2000 at 19:40:24 PT:
Mary Jane, Booray, et al
rSuch a silly thing; prohibition of Marijuana. Mr Oreilly I know you are a big fan of our first president so you may be interested to know that GW according to his plantation records carefully separated his female hemp crop from the male plants.This suggests to me that the father of our countrywas very aware of the potency of the plant and nodoubt found many sovereign uses for this beneficialand innocouous weed. Get on board Bill, we need yourvoice.
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Comment #8 posted by KEVIN on August 31, 2000 at 02:15:39 PT
PUBLIC EDUCATION AND AL GORES CAMPAIGN
i have to say mr oreilly you are correct that our education system waites alot of money. its not true public education dont work in europe and japan they have good education in the usa its a joke. The kids of the president and vice president send there kids to private schools what a hypocracracy im also concerned that the middle class and the poor think if gores gonna try to give health insurance to everyone that is not insured that will cost everyone who pays tax money. how are we gonnna cover 31 million uninsurd americans and tax credits for college and federal money to go with a persons social security thas gonna cost about 500 billion to 1 trillin dolllars wake up people who think you gonna get something for free its not truegore also has voted 85 percent prolife he waffles on everything he stands for. the economy is good now so there is no reason for more government intervention like what franklin rosevelt did with the new deal or with what gore nis perposing its just one big waste of my money i will admitt if bush starts waffling on his issures of tax cuts for all and a capitalistic way of thinking and education reform i wont vote for him thankskevin in washington
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Comment #7 posted by nancy ashburn on May 09, 2000 at 18:05:41 PT:
The Oreilly Factor Show
Big fan of yours! Keep it coming!!!!!!!!
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Comment #6 posted by kaptinemo on January 06, 2000 at 20:51:10 PT
Oft-times the Law is an ass
Mr. O'Reilly would have us slavishly follow the Law, no matter how wrong it is.Such short memories. It was against the law for Black people to drink from fountains marked 'Whites Only'. Hell, in the Constitution there is the thoroughly odious statement that slaves were only 60% human, as they were counted in the census as only three-fifths of a free man.When the law is WRONG, it needs to be changed. Who can doubt how wrong this law is
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Comment #5 posted by Tom Paine on January 05, 2000 at 22:41:05 PT
O'Reilly interrupts when his ass is kicked!
O'Reilly really is as dumb as he sounds, and follows thetime-honored tradition of "when you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, then baffle 'em with bullshit." Or in other words, when you are getting your ass kicked in a debate, then outshout your opponent.O'Reilly is part of the conservative pundit parade that dominates the mega-media culture in the USA. Along with the likes of Judge Judy, Laura Schlessinger, Rush Windbag, Gordon Liddy, ad nauseum. If you aren't in America, you may not understand how a culture can be so stupid overall, until you see a real Nazi propaganda machine in action.*DRUG WAR NEWS. Open mailing list, & online list archive. Inthe middle of this list's homepage is also found the JUDGE JUDYlinks list. JUDGE JUDY ON DRUG USERS: "LET 'EM DIE."|http://www.egroups.com/group/drug_war_news/fullinfo.html
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on January 05, 2000 at 20:53:00 PT
My Feelings!
When I read the transcripts I wanted to say just shut up and let the poor man speak! I have heard Kevin Zeese speak and he is wise. Bill O'Reilly isn't a jounalist in my opinion because a true jounalist listens with their complete attention when something as important as marijuana laws are being discussed. Thanks Richard for the link!
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Comment #3 posted by Scott on January 05, 2000 at 19:13:21 PT:
What a dick
That O'Reilly guy sure sounded like a dick. He could have at least allowed mr. Zeese to get his point across with out cutting him off with his false logic.Scott
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on January 05, 2000 at 18:25:30 PT
And Zeese is far more patient than I would've been
I have to assume - because I am unfamilair with the gentleman or his program - that Mr. O'Reilly has to be playing an obligatory 'devils' advocate'. He can't really be serious in his fallacious suppositions about cannabis and alcohol prohibitions. It had to be to be an attempt, in the time honored tradition of 'tabloid journalism, to try to rattle Mr. Zeese with nonsensical statements designed to call into question his motivations. O'Reily *really* can't be that *dumb*, can he? Where has he been for the last 30 years, Antarctica?
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Comment #1 posted by Richard Lake on January 05, 2000 at 14:30:26 PT:
Kevin does a good job speaking....
Heard him this morning on a Cincinnati radio station. He sure is a good spokesperson for our cause!
Find the news you want from over 30,000 items!
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