Grumbling about the possibility that marijuana may eventually be legal at the federal level, a pair of Fox hosts on Tuesday complained that the prevalence of weed in their neighborhoods led to them getting a “contact high” and has contributed to the decline of society.
Discussing Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent appearance on Seth Meyers’ late-night show, America’s Newsroom co-anchor Bill Hemmer took the veep to task for promoting decriminalization despite having sent nearly 2,000 people to jail for marijuana-related crimes when she was California’s attorney general.
“Starting with the weed thing. It was vintage Kamala,” Fox News Radio host Jimmy Failla agreed. “Heaping portions of hypocrisy sandwiched between word salad and nervous energy.”
ADVERTISEMENT
During her interview with Meyers, the vice president called for legislation that would take a “uniform approach” to marijuana while saying “nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.” This came after President Joe Biden pardoned thousands of people who had been convicted of federal marijuana possession, urged state governors to issue similar pardons, and directed his administration to look into changing the drug’s Schedule 1 federal classification—currently the same as heroin and LSD.
With more and more states across the country now looking to legalize recreational use, both Hemmer and Failla whipped out goofy anecdotal evidence about their New York City neighborhoods to make the case that a nationwide decriminalization would be disastrous.
“If you want to legalize this on the federal level, I would suggest the lawmakers in Washington, D.C. come to my neighborhood first and say, is this what you want all of America to be?” Hemmer huffed. “Because you'll get a contact high going to the coffee shop.”
Failla, meanwhile, insisted it is “insane” in New York right now, adding that a cop recently stopped him on the street and asked whether he was smoking weed. The conservative comedian then went on a mini-tirade conflating marijuana use with criminal behavior and, of course, the destruction of society.
“It’s everywhere. It’s everywhere you go. And the quality of life issue is what no one talks about,” he declared. “Yeah, it’s just weed. It’s not quite heroin. It’s not quite fentanyl. I understand.”
Failla continued: “But there’s an overall decay in the neighborhood, almost similar to, like, ‘broken windows’ policing—when you start with a lowered standard, you see everything around it increase exponentially. And that’s what pot has brought. It’s just filthy laziness, and I’m not a fan. Come on, man!”
While marijuana legalization is highly popular among American voters, receiving anywhere between 60 and 80 percent support, a number of Fox News personalities have raged against Biden’s pardons and fear-mongered that the president is now releasing a “huge number of drug traffickers and gang members.” And even before the president announced his latest orders on marijuana, the network’s hosts went so far as to blame mass shootings on weed.
