European travel guru Rick Steves isn’t “pro-marijuana,” by his own description, although on Tuesday he started a six-day, 10-city tour speaking on behalf of its legalization as proposed in Oregon’s Measure 91.

But Steves said until voters in Colorado and his home state of Washington voted for legalization in 2012, he had been convinced that several European nations have had a better approach to dealing with the drug.

“The United States tends to lock up people,” he said in a telephone interview from his home base in Edmonds, Wash. “In Europe, they take the crime out of the equation.”

Steves said it’s not just the Netherlands, where marijuana is not officially legal but is sold and used within establishments known as “coffee shops.” He said the Czech Republic, Spain and Portugal are other examples of how drug use is treated as something other than a crime.

One Amsterdam “coffee shop” actually bears the name “The Gray Area.”

Steves said Washington and Colorado, on the other hand, are dealing with how to regulate, tax and sell marijuana — several steps beyond what is done in Europe.

“People can complain about this or that, but it will all be fixed over time,” he said.

Steves was a cosponsor of Washington’s ballot measure and spoke up for it during the 2012 campaign.

What Steves said is important is that 5,000 annual arrests by police for marijuana possession have disappeared under Washington’s Initiative 502 — and that 12,000 marijuana-related arrests and citations for similar crimes in Oregon will go away if voters approve Measure 91.

“They are not rich white guys,” he said, “they are poor people who cannot afford to have this hurdle put in their lives.”

Oregon was the first state, in 1973, to decriminalize possession of less than one ounce of marijuana. The maximum fine is $1,000 and the fee for marijuana diversion is $335.

But Steves said he wants to make it clear he is not encouraging marijuana use, even though he is speaking out for Measure 91.

“I’m not going around Oregon saying that people should smoke pot,” he said. “I never have.

“Marijuana is a drug, it is dangerous, it can be addictive, and it certainly can be abused. I’m just talking about ending the prohibition that is causing more costs and problems in our society than the drug we are trying to deal with, just like alcohol in the 1930s.

“When they legalized beer, they did not say beer is good. They said the laws against it are causing more problems than the alcohol they were trying to deal with. Some people can take me out of context.”

Steves has revised his standard talk so that he spends about half his time on the virtues of travel broadening people’s perspectives, and the other half on a pragmatic approach to marijuana.

“We can talk about it and deal smartly with a complicated issue,” he said. “Right now, it’s a tragedy in our society. In five years, when we end marijuana prohibition in the United States, people will look back to the Northwest and be thankful.”

Since he took his first trip to Europe in 1969, Steves has blossomed into an industry unto himself. He writes guidebooks, is the host for televised travel documentaries — Oregon Public Broadcasting produces them — and has his own radio broadcast. His company also offers its own guided tours of Europe.

He has a new series of documentaries to be aired, including a special on the Holy Land.

A complete itinerary of Steves’ Oregon visits is listed below:

Wednesday: Noon, Ava Roasteria, 4770 SW Hall Blvd., Beaverton.

Wednesday: 7 p.m., Grand Theater, 191 High St. NE, Salem.

Thursday: Noon, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Christ, 2945 NW Circle Blvd., Corvallis.

Thursday: 7 p.m., McDonald Theatre, 1010 Willamette St., Eugene.

Friday: Noon, Jackson County Library, 205 S. Central Ave., Medford.

Friday: 7 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 87 4th St., Ashland.

Saturday: 5 p.m., Central Oregon Association of Realtors, 2112 NE 4th St., Bend.

Sunday: Noon, Civic Auditorium, 323 E. Fourth St., The Dalles.’

Sunday: 4 p.m., Library, 385 NW Miller Ave., Gresham.