Travel writer and broadcaster Rick Steves sees the current prohibition on marijuana as strikingly similar to the prohibition on alcohol during the 1930s: ineffective, wasteful and counter productive. Speaking at the University of Washington Tacoma, he argues that a European perspective on the issue offers some possible alternatives alternatives which may seem radical to people in the United States, but which have been proven to work. While emphasizing that he is not in favour of drug use by anyone, Rick Steves believes that the European emphasis on harm reduction rather than criminalization offers a possible way forward for the US. 'Here we're tough on drugs in Europe, they're smart on drugs.'
