GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Rick Steves has hosted a travel show on PBS for the past decade.
"We sometimes forget that we can learn from our friends in Europe. They've got the same challenges with marijuana and hard drugs....they always follow up with this annoying quote, 'You Americans lock up 10 times as many people as we do. Either you're inherently a more criminal people or you have some screwy laws'," says Steves.
And it's in Europe where Steves saw how different countries handle marijuana use.
"The Dutch have a very interesting system and they just decided this is a health problem; it's not a criminal problem," says Steves.
Steves is an advocate for the legalization of recreational marijuana. Tuesday night he held an event in Grand Rapids where he told a crowd of 200 that he is not being paid by anyone to visit Michigan. He says it's his experiences in Europe and his home state of Washington that have solidified his position.
"Once you legalize marijuana, you realize it's a good idea—use does not go up, teen use does not go up, DUIs don't go up, crime does not go up, what does go up is civil liberties and tax revenue," says Steves.
But he realizes there are strong opinions on the other side. Just last month, a local group consisting of law enforcement and prosecutors urged voters to say no to recreational marijuana. “Legalizing recreational use of marijuana is not right for the state of Michigan,’’ Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson argued in September.
"There's a lot of people that make a lot of money because marijuana is illegal...they have a huge vested interest in keeping it illegal," says Steves.
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