Transcript for Ron Paul on the Drug War and Capital Punishment

Paul: I would like to believe that if we had a freer society, it would take care of Blacks and whites and everybody equally because we're all individuals.

To me, that is so important. But if we had equal justice under the law, I think it would be a big improvement.

If we had probably a repeal of most of the federal laws on drugs

and the unfairness on how Blacks are treated with these drugs laws, it would be a tremendous improvement.

Paul: A system designed to protect individual liberty will have no punishments for any group and no privileges.

Today, I think inner-city folks and minorities are punished unfairly in the war on drugs.

For instance, Blacks make up 14 percent of those who use drugs, yet 36 percent of those arrested are Blacks

and it ends up that 63 percent of those who finally end up in prison are Blacks. This has to change.

We don't have to have more courts and more prisons. We need to repeal the whole war on drugs. It isn't working.

(Audience cheers and applause)

We have already spent over $400 billion since the early 1970s, and it is wasted money.

Prohibition didn't work. Prohibition on drugs doesn't work. So we need to come to our senses.

And, absolutely, it's a disease. We don't treat alcoholics like this.

This is a disease, and we should orient ourselves to this. That is one way you could have equal justice under the law.

Suarez: Congressman Paul, support has gradually been slipping for the death penalty among all Americans.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reports a large minority of whites still support capital punishment, while Blacks and Latinos do not.

Now, I know this is mostly a state function, but the president does appoint appellate judges, and of course,

the highest appellate judges in the land, the Supreme Court justices, who often review death penalty cases.

Do you think the death penalty is carried out justly in the United States? And do you want to see it continued during your presidency?

Paul: You know, over the years, I've held pretty rigid all my beliefs, but I've changed my opinion about the death penalty.

For federal purposes, I no longer believe in the death penalty. I believe it has been issued unjustly.

If you're rich, you get away with it; if you're poor and you're from the inner city, you're more likely to be prosecuted and convicted.

Today, with the DNA evidence, there have been too many mistakes. So I am now opposed to the federal death penalty.