Rick Steves On Cannabis, Elections and “The Smell of Freedom” | Planted with Sara Payan Podcast

Planted with Sara Payan is now on High Times. This week, Sara sits down with PBS travel icon Rick Steves for a wide-ranging conversation on cannabis policy, elections, and what Steves calls “pragmatic harm reduction” over “legislating morality.” Steves, a longtime advocate who previously served as chair of NORML and remains active in policy work, talks about why legalization has moved state by state since 2012, why ballot wins still need to be “shepherded” after Election Day, and what he believes gets lost when reform debates get trapped by perfection instead of progress. In this episode: – Why Steves focuses on stopping arrests first – State ballot fights, conservative framing, and the “incremental” strategy – The myths that didn’t come true after legalization – Why he calls cannabis “the smell of freedom” – What he thinks it will take for the federal government to catch up 🎧 Listen to Planted with Sara Payan on High Times Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of cannabis, culture and policy.