You've probably come across affable and knowledgeable TV travel host Rick Steves while channel-surfing, but you may not know that he is one of the leading marijuana advocates among media personalities – and now he's lending his name and knowledge in support of Washington State's Initiative 502 (I-502), which would legalize pot for adults 21 and older as well as establish marijuana-only retail outlets regulated and taxed by the state government.
 
Steves, 57, is a Washington native and the host of Rick Steves' Europe, which airs on PBS, but he hasn't let that high-profile position diminish his support for legal pot, as he serves on the advisory board for NORML and is a co-sponsor of I-502. 
 
Steves launcehd his I-502 promotional tour on Friday, October 12, which will see him visit 11 Washington cities across the state beginning with the capital of Olympia and ending with Lynnwood on October 21.
 
As Steves explained to the Everett Herald,I-502 isn't pro-pot but rather “anti-marijuana prohibition. The best way to control something is not to make it illegal, but to regulate it and educate people on the danger of its use.” Steves exudes purpose in stumping for I-502: “I think our nation is ripe for one state to step out against this prohibition … In the 1930s, [alcohol] Prohibition was brought down one state at a time.”
 
In addition to being a PBS personality, best-selling travel guidebook author and radio host, Steves is truly a Renaissance man when it comes to social causes; besides advocating legal pot, he also builds housing for the homeless, raises money for the underfed, and donates generously to the arts.
 
Meanwhile, I-502 has shown strong support in polling, with a September SurveyUSA poll indicating that 57 percent of Washingtonians plan to vote “yes” on I-502 with 9 percent undecided and only 34 percent opposed.
 
More @ www.heraldnet.com & www.ricksteves.com