Rick Steves speaks on legalizing pot

• Tweet

VANCOUVER, Wash., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Pro-marijuana activists in Washington state are on a seven-day, 10-city campaign tour in an effort to pass a measure that would legalize pot in the state.

Travel guru Rick Steves, 57, spoke in front of an audience of about 150 people in Vancouver, Wash., Friday about the I-502, a bill that would legalize marijuana, The (Portland) Oregonian reported.

"I-502 does not say marijuana is good," Steves said. "It says prohibition is an expensive, losing battle and we've got to do something different."

"If you want to control it, legalize it and regulate the heck out of it," Steves said later in his presentation.

If I-502 passes, adults in Washington would be limited to possessing 1 ounce of marijuana and the state would strictly regulate and tax growers and sellers. Washingtonians would also be prohibited from growing their own marijuana.

Oregon and Colorado also have marijuana legalization measures on the ballot this year, the newspaper said.

Steves said the Washington and Colorado measures are doing well in the polls, while the Oregon measure -- the least restrictive of the three -- faces an uphill battle.

"I don't think Oregon has a chance," Steves said.