Rick Steves Dedicates $100K to Midterm Cannabis Legalization Efforts

Rick Steves, travel writer, television host, and cannabis activist, has pledged to spend up to $100,000 to support cannabis legalization efforts around the country in the upcoming mid-term elections, the Regina Leader-Post reports. Steves, who serves as board chair of NORML, announced in a fundraising email he will match donations up to $100,000; he also said he is devoting eight days of campaigning to the legalization cause this election season.

“I’ve spent the last five election seasons campaigning around the country for legalization ballot initiatives[ …] So far, we’ve won in nearly every state we’ve contested. The majority of the American public is with us. We just need to smartly make our point to win at the ballot box. And that takes hard work and money.” – Steves, in the email, via the Leader-Post

Steves, who has campaigned for cannabis legalization in Washington, Oregon, Massachusetts, Maine, and New Jersey, will give away a copy of his book “On the Hippy Trail,” which documents his travels from Istanbul to Kathmandu in 1978 and includes an account of his first time consuming cannabis in Afghanistan, for those who donate over $100.

In the email, Steves reminds readers anti-cannabis groups are “fundraising and spending money in an effort to defeat pro-marijuana ballot initiatives” this fall. He says, “regressive and reactionary forces are working to roll back civil liberties across our country. And I can’t just stand by.”

Maryland, Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Oklahoma all have adult-use questions on the November ballot, the report says.