By Bill O'Reilly

According to the U.S. Department of Health, more than 38,000 people died from drug overdoses in the USA in 2010, the last statistics available. The Department of Health also says about 22 million Americans, ages 12 or older, need treatment for substance abuse in this country, 22 million. Yet, many on the left are demanding softer drug laws. They don't believe that selling hard narcotics causes enough damage to be classified as a violent crime. That in itself is hard to believe, another radical left position.

Drugs like cocaine and meth, heroin and other opiates kill people, lots of people. And the pushers who sell them are partially responsible for those deaths. And that is violence is, it not?

Yet a bunch of celebrities like Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey, Will Smith, Mark Wahlberg and Kim Kardashian also LL Cool J have signed a letter to President Obama that says quote. "Mr. President, it's evident that you have demonstrated a commitment to pursue alternatives to the enforcement-only on war on drugs approach and address the increased incarceration rates for nonviolent crimes.

The greatest victims of the prison industrial complex are our nation's children. Hundreds of thousands of children have lost a parent to long prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenses leaving those children to fend for themselves", unquote.

Completely absurd and misguided in the extreme. Now, we directed a very simple question to Will Smith, Mark Wahlberg, Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx and Jim Carrey. Do you believe selling hard drugs is not a violent crime? Yes or no.

None of them would answer the question. None of them. No surprise. They'll grandstand an issue like that but they won't seriously debate it.

Now here is why these people don't know what they are talking about. Since America began punishing drug dealers harshly about 1979, violent crime in the country has dropped more than 32 percent. Since America began putting crack cocaine dealers in prison for long stretches cocaine use has dropped more than 71 percent.

These pinheads talk about a, quote: "Prison industrial complex." Well who is in the prisons? Terrible people. That's who. And sadly, terrible people do have children. But can you imagine being a child in the home of a heroin dealer? Wouldn't that be nice?

You want more? 48 percent of federal prison inmates in this country are serving time for drug offenses almost half. But just 13 percent are in prison because of marijuana. And virtually all of them are major weight dealers. So this isn't the feds kicking in the door of somebody smoking reefer in the living room. That's what the left wants to you believe but that's false.

By putting hard drug dealers in prison authorities have made all Americans safer. The huge drop in violent crime is mostly because the bad guys are no longer on the streets. Every criminologist knows most street crime and many murders are committed by drug-involved people.

But the Hollywood people don't know that because they have no clue what goes on in these precincts. The left-wing loons who tell you that selling hard drugs is not a violent crime are hurting all of us. Ask any American whose son or daughter is in the cemetery because somebody sold them narcotics.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.