Atlanta, Georgia emcee, 2 Chainz debated marijuana legalization on Nancy Grace last night (January 13) on HLN. During a snippet released, the talk show host used the case of Melvin Blevins as an example of why marijuana is a dangerous drug. The case involves a 19-year old man who videotaped himself forcing his 18-month old niece to smoke weed. A pawn shop clerk found the tape inside of a camera that Blevins pawned.
“I got something for you, Nancy,” The rapper, born Tauheed Epps, said in response. “I’m from the urban community. I’m from the inner city and pawn shops are associated with a drug known as crack. Most of the time when people pawn things it’s not to buy a sack of marijuana. It’s to feed a high that’s much more strenuous than a drug such as weed. I feel like that person had a problem that’s probably deeper than weed. Maybe they was high on crack when they were doing that footage right there.”
In her rebuttal, Grace asserted that she “…knows they were high on weed” because of the video evidence recovered. Epps responded with “I know crack, too,” before comparing the legalization of marijuana to the legalization of alcohol.
“It’s the same thing we talked about earlier, darling, with the legalization of alcohol,” he said. “You’ll find some footage like this but everyone is not doing this. Some people actually love their child. Some people know that that’s obviously wrong. So there’s nothing to really argue about. These people are imbeciles. You can’t use this case to define a whole community.”
Grace showed footage during the interview of local news stories involving parents accused of letting their infant children use the drug, but Epps was skeptical of her reasoning.
“I don’t think that you can put a whole umbrella on the community off these two incidents that you just named,” he said.
“What community is that, potheads?” She asked.
“The stoners community,” Epps said. “I just feel like you can’t use these particular stories to define everybody that has recreational use.”
“I’m not defining everybody, so don’t throw me in that pot and stew me,” Grace responded, arguing that she did not understand how Epps, who has amassed a large fanbase through his work, could support making the drug legal.
“What I’m trying to say to you is, if this is legalized, then everybody is gonna have unlimited access to pot,” she said. “And unlike other people that are responsible, irresponsible child abusers are going to have free access.”
Epps countered by noting that the drug is already readily available, regardless of its legality. Legalizing marijuana, he said, would reduce prison overcrowding and allow more people to potentially qualify for financial or home loans without a drug-related blemish on their criminal record.
“Here’s my answer to that: If you want to qualify for a home, then why don’t you just not smoke pot?” she asked. “Why not just not get arrested?”
Grace also seemed disappointed that Epps would rap about smoking marijuana, among other topics, in his music, given that he graduated at the top of his high school class and attended Alabama State University on a basketball scholarship.
“Do you have children?” Grace said trying to strike a nerve with Epps.
“I have two beautiful little girls, and I’m a great father,” Epps replied. “I feel like everybody should take care of their own. You have kids, too, right? So it’s about governing your own household. It’s about taking care of your own property. It’s about having some kind of structure, in anything.”
