Rick Steves Nominated for EMMY for pot program

Rick Steves Nominated for EMMY as Host of Program on Marijuana Laws

Travel writer (and NORML board member) Rick Steves has been nominated by The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Northwest Regional Chapter, to receive an EMMY Award for his role as host of the ACLU of Washington’s “Marijuana: It’s Time for a Conversation.” The half-hour television program examines the history and current impacts of state and federal marijuana laws and invites viewers to consider, and discuss with others, whether those laws are working for our communities.

“Conversation” has been viewed more than 30,000 times in western Washington households subscribed to Comcast On Demand. It has received print and radio media coverage locally and nationwide, and it has been screened to capacity audiences at Spokane’s Metropolitan Performing Arts Center and the Kirkland Performance Center. The associated website, MarijuanaConversation.org, has received over 320,000 hits. Seattle network stations sparked some controversy when they refused to air the program during evening hours when most adults would be likely to be watching.

“I’m thrilled, honored, and proud to be recognized for my part in this collaboration,” Steves said of the nomination. “I believe media should be used to share ideas and opinions for the benefit of our communities. The networks’ refusal to sell us time when we could engage more viewers on the issue of our nation’s failed drug war strengthened my conviction that contributing to this project was good citizenship.”

I appreciate Rick’s work for the cause of marijuana legalization and I’m glad to see his work beginning to get the attention it deserves.  [I interviewed Alison Holcomb from the Washington ACLU Drug Law Project last year when this video first came out, and my interview with Rick Steves from NORML CON 2007 appears on one of my very first Stash episodes.  You can hear Stash founder Chris Goldstein’s interview with Rick Steves in our Archives. — “R”R