Rick Steves (Ab Walet)

Travel guru Rick Steves’ 10-city tour in Oregon to talk cannabis legalization

Travel hero Rick Steves will tour 10 Oregon cities in early-October to talk about marijuana legalization — and, more importantly, Measure 91, which aims to regulate, legalize and tax marijuana for adult Oregonians 21 and older.

The name of Steves’ tour: “Travel as a Political Act: Ending marijuana prohibition in Oregon.”

When Steves spoke with The Cannabist in February, he talked passionately about drug reform.

“Our government has spent billions of dollars misleading the public in the last generation with deceitful ad campaigns and propaganda,” Steves told us. “People are wired to think marijuana is bad until it’s proven not-bad. And now we’re going through that slow process of illustrating that it’s not necessarily GOOD, but that it’s not as harmful as they’ve been led to believe.”

According to a press release from Yes on 91, “Steves will share how travel has shown him how different societies tackle the same problems.”


Read our full interview with Steves: “I’ve been on the board at NORML for ten years and at NORML we wear our coats and ties. We dress in an un-scary way for frightened suburban parents as we talk about why we should stop locking up people for smoking pot.”


“One thing I’ve learned in 30 years of travel,” Steves said in the statement, “is that treating marijuana as a crime does not work. A better approach is to regulate it, legalize it and tax it. I’m an advocate for better policy, and that’s what Oregon will get once Measure 91 passes.”

Steves was a co-sponsor and major supporter of Washington’s successful marijuana measure I-502.

Steves will speak twice in Portland on Oct. 7, in Beaverton and Salem on Oct. 8, in Corvallis and Eugene on Oct. 9, in Medford and Ashland on Oct. 10, in Bend on Oct. 11 and the Dalles and Gresham on Oct. 12.

Most of the events are free and open to the public but require RSVPs. Check out Yes on 91’s website for more information.