Pubdate: Fri, 02 Nov 2012
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Joe Garofoli

STEVES ENDORSES POT-LEGALIZATION MEASURE ON BALLOT

FOX ISLAND, Wash. - The campaign to legalize, tax and regulate 
marijuana in Washington state for people at least 21 years old was 
designed for mainstream appeal. Start with its celebrity spokesman: 
public television travel star Rick Steves, who lives in Washington 
when he isn't foraging for truffle oil in Tuscany.

"He's got the khaki pants, the button-down shirt, slightly goofy," 
said Alison Holcomb, the campaign's director. "He's the guy who takes 
you to Europe."

"That's the fun of all this," Steves said. "If it was Snoop Dogg, it 
would be one thing. But it's Rick Steves. He's a nice guy. A 
businessman. We're saying this is not for kids. This is about civil liberties."

Steves smokes marijuana in Europe and occasionally in the United 
States. Not too often, he said, "because I'm always working." But "if 
a guy wants to light up a joint and stare at the fire inside his 
house for two hours, then he should be able to do that," he added.

The little-organized opposition campaign consists of other backers of 
marijuana legalization who fear that the measure, Initiative 502, 
would "criminalize" medical cannabis patients. While some law 
enforcement groups have spoken out against it, opponents have raised 
$15,995 compared with $6.1 million for the proponents' campaign.

After hosting a forum on legalization this week on Fox Island, a 
woodsy, largely Republican enclave near Tacoma, resident Nan Feagin 
said that despite what the polls say, she isn't sure that many of her 
neighbors will ultimately vote to make marijuana legal in the state.

"A lot of people may agree that it should be legal or something else 
should be done," Feagin said. "But when it comes down to marking the 
ballot, I think they're going to have a lot of hesitation."
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