S.E. Cupp: Don't legalize pot because it 'won't solve social problem' of jailed non-violent smokers

CNN host S.E. Cupp on Sunday asserted that "a little bit more time" was needed before the U.S. decriminalized marijuana, and stopped jailing non-violent drug users.

In an Saturday editorial, The New York Timescalled to end the federal prohibition on marijuana, arguing that the ban had caused "great harm on society just to prohibit a substance far less dangerous than alcohol."

"I think it's high time," economist Robert Reich told ABC News on Sunday. "Our prisons are filled with non-violent criminals, many of whom are there because they've been arrested for selling or using pot."

"You know, this war against drugs -- particularly with regard to marijuana -- has been lost," he pointed out. "And we see the evidence of that all around us."

Cupp, however, disagreed with everyone on the ABC News panel.

"A lot of the people who are routinely arrested for marijuana use are young people," she explained. "If we're going to put a legal age restriction of 21, that's not going to stop a lot of the arrests of young people. I don't know that this is the way to solve these social problems. I think we all agree those are social problems."

"I think it's unsettled yet," she added. "We need a little bit more time in the laboratories of democracy to see how this affects crime, and young people, and the economy."

Watch the video below from ABC's This Week, broadcast July 27, 2014.