Ledger

Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: News

Marijuana supporters rally at Hempfest 2007 in Seattle while Rick Steves (far left) speaks positively of pot.

Many American viewers know Rick Steves as host of the PBS travel show "Rick Steve's Europe," providing advice on how best to enjoy the pleasures the continent has to offer. But he is also an outspoken advocate for marijuana law reform, and sits on the advisory board for The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws better known as NORML. He gave the keynote speech at the organization's 2005 annual meeting, and has also spoken at Seattle's Hempfest. He will visit UW Tacoma's campus on March 6 to speak to students about their role in revising marijuana legislation.

Here's what Rick Steves had to say in an interview with the Ledger:

Ledger: You state on your Web site that you support the decriminalization of marijuana in the U.S. and you sit on the advisory board of NORML. How did you first become involved with NORML?

Rick Steves: I realized that the criminalization of marijuana was sort of equivalent to the criminalizing of alcohol consumption back in the days of prohibition, and that the attempted solution was causing more harm to society than the problem it was trying to address. It just seemed like it was something that everybody was afraid to talk about. And it bothered me that everybody was afraid to talk about it. There's a lot of lies that are embraced by our society, and this was one too many and I just thought I could speak out on this.

I have friends that smoke pot. They're people that I respect, people that are very good citizens who have had to do this secretly and it was insulting to people who want to exercise something that I believe is a civil liberty just like enjoying a nice glass of wine.

How long have you been a member of NORML?
I think I've been a member of NORML for six or eight years.

What was your first experience with marijuana?
I first got high in Afghanistan and in Nepal, and it added wonderfully to my travel experience. It was a lot like going local. I mean, I was very square as a young kid and I had a lot of friends who smoked pot, and I just didn't want peer pressure to influence me. It felt very normal, it felt like part of the culture. The experience blew me away.

In your April 2005 keynote speech to the NORML annual meeting, you criticized the American DARE program, citing stories from teachers who felt intimidated into silence when visiting officers came to their schools. You also cite the hundreds of billions of dollars our government has invested in the war on drugs. Do you believe that an effective policy change can occur in a government with so much invested in aggressive tactics?

Continued...

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