It was Whoopi Goldberg against former assistant US Attorney Sunny Hostin over the question of legalizing marijuana on the July 28 episode of The View (see clip below).
Goldberg started the segment by saying how excited she was to read the New York Times editorial calling for the federal government to lift the ban on marijuana: "I was thrilled to see it. I'm very, very, very happy about this."
Conservative commentator and guest host S.E. Cupp immediately disagreed: "It should be up to the states. Luckily it's not up to the New York Times, a New York City liberal paper, to decide what everyone around the country does. It was a big deal for the New York Times to come out and essentially call for this. It's a much better idea to allow the states to be laboratories of democracy and decide, We are a state that wants to legalize this. Our neighbors disagree and they're allowed to do that."
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Goldberg: "I thought that's what was happening. I thought it was going state by state."
Cupp: "It is. But the New York Times would very much like the rest of the country to get with the times and get hip and get cool…"
Goldberg: "You've had doctors who have come out and said we've had this thought and now we've shifted our mind."
Co-host Sherri Shepherd chimed in: "I'm from the hood and I'm against legalization."
Then Hostin challenged Goldberg: "I'm against the legalization. I do believe it's a gateway drug. I wonder why we think it's ok to tell our children that it's fine to disassociate, that it's fine to not be in your right frame of mind."
Goldberg: "Everytime you look at sports function you've got the beer commercials, you've got alcohol everywhere. If you want to start this perhaps you want to start it with the thing that's already legal. Because alcohol is legal and tobacco is legal."
Hostin: "What's next? Should we legalize mushrooms because that's groovy? Should we legalize cocaine?"
Goldberg: "I'm sorry. Don't do that because you're pretending that people are not thinking and not looking at what the real issues are with marijuana."
Hostin: "Where do you draw the line?"
Goldberg, who was a former heroin addict, explained: "I'll tell you where you draw the line. You draw the line at the drugs like heroin that are killing people. You don't want heroin legal.
'You don't want cocaine legal. Marijuana is ok because I happen to believe from experience, both on the positive of having a good time with it, but now also from the medical, which is desperately needed. I know the good parts of marijuana.
"Until you and I go to one of those growing places and I can educate you, because I know where you're coming from - you don't know where I'm coming from - we'll have some more fun."
Hostin: "I'll take you up on that."
