Rick Steves’ Road Trip to Help Legalize Marijuana in the USA | Hacker News Reader

Rick Steves’ Road Trip to Help Legalize Marijuana in the USA

blog.ricksteves.com

Californian here. In college my friends turned me on to drinking. I became what I would describe as a drunk in my 20’s. It was horrible for my body. I’d had some bad experiences with weed but for some reason I decided to try again in my late 20’s. Somehow then I was able to handle the strange disorienting feeling it had previously caused for me.

I’ve found that when I want to unwind with the help of a drug, I vastly prefer weed over alcohol. I currently smoke a little every day. I really do see smoking weed like drinking wine. If you do it a lot and it’s interfering with your life, it sounds like a problem. If you do it a little then yes it’s still unhealthy but it’s not a problem.

I work in tech as an engineer and I consider myself very successful. I know doing drugs isn’t as healthy as staying clean and I don’t plan to smoke every day forever, but for now I like what it gives me. When I smoke, it’s a small hit of sativa from a pipe. Then I get up, put on some music, and clean the house, cook food, or do some mechanical design. I smoke less if I’m going to write software - that’s just how my brain likes it.

But often if I’m going through something hard in life, I’m not good at processing it on my own. I know I could learn that through meditation, but certainly taking a larger hit of the same stuff and sitting down for a while usually allows me to process those emotions. I’ll go in to my emotions, cry, and then work through them. That’s just an evening or weekend thing.

I’ll reiterate that I don’t see this as objectively healthy, but it’s certainly not in a worse class of drug than alcohol. I am frustrated when I go to parties and people allow young children to see everyone drinking but say the weed should be hidden. We have a culture that accepts heavy drinking but we still see weed as some problem. In California it’s not so severe, but I hope to see it legalized everywhere in the world. It’s absurd to send anyone to jail for consuming, producing, or selling this easy to grow drug.

I agree with 99% of what you said, but in the case of weed, while I don't think it should be hidden per se, it has a known "secondhand" effect on those in close proximity.

So perhaps it stands to reason it's just the usage that should be kept at a distance rather than the admission of use. Too bad so many are still terrified to admit their use where it's still illegal. May that change more rapidly in the future.

That’s true. For what it’s worth this happened at an outdoor beach party, and they were concerned with the impression it would make. Far away but visible would not have fit their concerns. But yes don’t discount the danger of second hand smoke!

> I agree with 99% of what you said, but in the case of weed, while I don't think it should be hidden per se, it has a known "secondhand" effect on those in close proximity.

Really? That's not what I was colloquially aware of nor what [1] says.

[1]: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/extreme_...

The use of edibles, however, has no secondhand effect. In states where it's legal, candy, beverages, and so on are common.

Very similar to my use case. My parents would have a glass of wine with their dinner every night. My wife enjoys the same. I don't like wine or beer because I get a headache and it doesn't really ease stress.

Smoking (via vaporizer) a little bit before eating is awesome and good weed doesn't give you a hangover or drowsy feeling the next day. I'm so much more in the present moment, my daily stresses melt away, I can connect with my wife. When I go on camping trips or leave the hustle and bustle of the city, I don't smoke. I get peace by being out of the grind and being around people I love.

Rick is such a neat guy - puts his money where his mouth is, not only on this issue, but on a number of social causes. In the long run, his excellent travel tips might turn out to be a footnote in terms of his contribution to the world.

Rick recently donated a $4 million apartment complex for homeless women and children. His article about the donation is a great read:

https://www.ricksteves.com/about-rick/trinity-place

"With the election of our president in 2016 and the rise of a new, greed-is-good ethic in our government, I want to be more constructive than just complaining about how our society is once again embracing "trickle-down" ethics, and our remarkable ability to ignore the need in our communities even as so much wealth is accumulated within the top one percent of our populace. I'm heartbroken at how good people, dedicating their lives to helping others (through social organizations and non-profits across our society), are bracing for a new forced austerity under our government of billionaires."

I'm currently withdrawing from a psychiatric medication. In my cohort people take their lives frequently, the pain is so bad. Many of us are finding relief in CBD oil and medical marijuana. To say that the nomination of Sessions to AG (and his subsequent withdrawing of the Cole memo) has made our lives worse, is an understatement. We just want to live normal lives. As much as possible. CBD has allowed me to stay productive, to work, to rescue my career. Take it away and I don't know if I'm here. I wish Rick the best and hope he can make change and, honestly, save some lives.

Being in the YC community for years, it's delightful to see someone like Rick Steves be in the top page.

His shows on PBS became the the main reason why I decided to work remotely whilst traveling all around the world.

He shares knowledge like no one else, I highly recommend you watch his shows and also his talks on YouTube.

Link to youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/RickSteves/videos

I am glad that this is becoming more prevalent. While I personally have never really gotten into any trouble, I know a lot of people that have been incarcerated for weed. In other cases, the presence of weed allowed for entry/search by police which for any number of reasons resulted in being charged for one crime or another.

More importantly (to me personally, since this affects people close to me), a big chunk of them experienced insipid forms of violence while locked up, and in some cases this derailed people for years, or even permanently.

I sincerely hope that the sheer human cost of current policies can be reduced or eliminated altogether.

>the presence of weed allowed for entry/search by police

This is the biggest reason so many "law and order" types fight legalization. It's a "Get Out of the Fourth Amendment Free" card:

https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2018/03/08/joe-kennedy-...

>Recalling his days working as a state prosecutor when Massachusetts voted in 2008 to decriminalize marijuana, Kennedy said the decision affected the ability of police officers to search and seize other illegal items, such as guns, from vehicles.

>“If you smelled [marijuana] in a car, you could search a car,” Kennedy said. “When it became decriminalized, you couldn’t do that.”

I really hope Sessions takes him up on the offer. The main difference is that in places like Switzerland and the Netherlands they view drug addition as a _health issue_ rather than a crime you should be locked up for. I think the attitude towards drugs in the US is slowly moving away from Richard Nixon's "war on drugs", and more towards actually helping people with drug problems.

Having said that, Europe is way ahead of the US in a lot of (social) aspects, drugs being one of them.

Nixon and his associates did a lot of damage in this area:

"You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities," [former Nixon domestic policy chief John Ehrlichman] said. "We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."

I'm glad Rick Steves made an effort to call out that particular aspect: "And we’re no longer arresting about 8,000 (mostly poor and black) people each year."

Classic example of a law just to make criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens. Marijuana law is such a textbook example of everything bad about government. We needed a constitutional amendment to allow the government regulate alcohol, but now you don't even Congress to regulate drugs, you just need the executive. And it can be illegal at the federal level, legal at the state level, illegal at the local level, but not "enforced", so the TSA can get you charged with a felony because you're transporting your small amount of no-THC pain balm across state lines. What a mess we've built ourselves.

> Europe is way ahead of the US in a lot of (social) aspects, drugs being one of them.

Scandinavian countries have some of the most insane zero-tolerance drug policies in the world, so I don't know about that.

Never heard of the guy but after reading that, wow. People like Rick Steves are one in a million. I bet a significant minority of the population if not a majority of the population of many countries view the laws around marijuana out-dated. How many of those people hit the streets to try to be the change they want to be in the world? Not many. My deepest appreciation to Rick Steves and others like him who go out of their way to make the world a less crappy place for all of us.

Wish more people saw his Iran special. Might make them think a little harder before sanctioning and/or drone-striking the shit out of that part of the world.

The man is an all-around hero.

Rick Steves has been an outspoken proponent of legalization for a long, long time now, and it's a testament to his resolve that he's still doing it today with every bit as much fervor as he had when the headwinds were strong.

Keep it up, Rick!

I was in Annapolis, MD yesterday assisting with the presentation of the Constitution Amendment Bills in Maryland. It's a Small world. I even saw Rick in the halls. Don't think I got a chance to meet him though. I wish I did.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com