“This is a racial story, not a drug story,” said O’Reilly in beginning his discussion of New York state Governor Cuomo’s proposal to decriminalize marijuana public possession in small amounts. O’Reilly, host of ‘The O’Reilly Factor,’ appeared on ‘Fox and Friends’ to discuss the proposed new legislation.

Governor Cuomo is looking to decriminalize marijuana in the state of New York on the grounds that the laws are currently "inconsistent" since private possession of the drug is a violation, while public possession of it is a crime.

The Huffington Post reports that according to the New York governor’s office, an overwhelming majority of arrests for possession of small amounts of marijuana occur in New York City, where the police department uses the extremely contentious "stop and frisk" policy.

"The cops know who the wiseguys are,” said O’Reilly, “who the dealers are, who the punks are, and they know who the muggers are, and they try to get these guys on anything.”

“They know these guys carry pot,” said O’Reilly, who added that police officers often look to charge such suspects on smaller counts - like marijuana possession - in order to get them “into the system” and off the streets.

He added that “the left hates that, hates it, because it is racial profiling, but it’s really criminal profiling."

O’Reilly added that he “understands” those who get angry when they’re stopped and frisked though they have committed no crime and have no illegal substances on them.

“It’s a crime-fighting technique that they’re going to take away from the NYPD,” said O’Reilly of the proposed decriminalization.

“And mark my words, street crime in New York will go up.”

Check out the video from ‘Fox and Friends’ here: