Author and travel expert Rick Steves has long studied drug and marijuana policies around the world, and he told Cheddar that the United States should take a page from Europe’s rulebook.
“In our society, especially with the way our administration is approaching the drug problem, it’s just ‘moralize and lock them up’, and it’s just not productive,” he said Tuesday. “In Europe, the word for addicted is ‘enslaved.’ People aren’t criminals, they’re sick … they need help to get over this problem.”
This White House has taken a harsher stance on drugs than its predecessor, with Attorney General Jeff Sessions scrapping Obama-era rules stopping the federal government from interfering with states’ cannabis laws, and President Donald Trump even suggesting the death penalty for dealers.
Steves, who co-sponsored a bill legalizing weed in Washington state, champions a more empathetic approach. He’s studied European drug laws for 15 years and says that, on the continent where “a joint is about as exciting as a can of beer,” effective policies keep incarceration rates low.
“Learn about Europe’s challenges with marijuana and its opioid problem, bring it home, and our society can learn.”
While Steves says he isn’t necessarily “pro-marijuana”, he is a strong advocate of ending “stupid” bans on its use.
“I’m just interested in [ending] incarceration and racist drug laws,” he said.
Currently, adult recreational marijuana use is legal in nine states and Washington, D.C.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/travel-as-a-political-act).
If you want to dine indoors, go to a gym or attend an event at an entertainment venue in New York, you'll need to show proof that you have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
North Korea said Monday that it successfully tested newly developed long-range cruise missiles over the weekend.
The fight for funding for 9/11 survivors and first responders is back on the legislative agenda, as Congress considers a bill to update the funding formula for a key program which could mean billions of additional dollars for care.
The Justice Department on Thursday sued Texas over a new state law that bans most abortions, arguing that it was enacted “in open defiance of the Constitution."
President Joe Biden on Thursday is toughening COVID-19 vaccine requirements for federal workers and contractors as he aims to boost vaccinations and curb the surging delta variant that is killing thousands each week and jeopardizing the nation’s economic recovery.
A crowd erupted in cheers and song Wednesday as work crews hoisted an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee off the pedestal where it has towered over Virginia’s capital city for more than a century.
Gain-of-Function, Mexico Abortion Stunner & Album Wars
Goodbye Summer, Texas Abortion Law & Remembering Michael K. Williams
Cheddar News' Michelle Castillo spoke to former Kipp alumni and Kipp Affirm Middle School principal Dominique Mejia about the precautions it is taking to keep everyone healthy and why it was so important to return back to in-person instruction.
America’s employers added just 235,000 jobs in August, a modest gain after two months of robust hiring at a time when the delta variant’s spread has discouraged some people from flying, shopping and eating out.
