On his Talking Points Memo, Bill O'Reilly criticized the New York Times' call for legalizing marijuana as backdoor racial pandering.

"The left believes American law enforcement targets African-Americans for drug prosecutions. Therefore they want drug sales to be categorized as nonviolent offenses and marijuana to be legalized. It's about race, not drugs," he said.

O'Reilly cited statistics showing that the majority of those convicted of marijuana-related drug offenses were actually Hispanic.

"The legalization of marijuana is full of unintended consequences. It sends a signal to children that drug use is an acceptable part of life," O'Reilly said.

He pointed to a Yale School of Medicine survey showing that marijuana is actually a gateway drug and questioned whether making drugs available in poor neighborhoods would improve life there- or make it worse.

"Under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, The New York City police cracked down on open drug use and sales, and those convicted of selling drugs were given much harsher sentences by the state of New York," Bill O'Reilly said. "No one disputes the murder rate was driven by the drug trade as gangs shot it out all over the city."

O'Reilly accused the New York Times and the pro-drug left of wanting to turn back the clock to high murder rates in the city and the country.