Instead of doling out tips on Italian gelato or showing off the oldest tower in Ireland's oldest city, travel guru Rick Steves will be in Michigan campaigning for recreational marijuana legalization.

Steves, who is from the state of Washington, is a marijuana policy reform advocate and said he's traveling to Michigan on his own dime.

Steves will be in Grand Rapids Tuesday, Oct. 2, and will be in Ann Arbor Wednesday, Oct. 3. The events are being promoted by the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, a group of marijuana lawyers, drug policy reform groups and the ACLU.

Steves is one of the first celebrities to get involved on the ballot issue of recreational marijuana legalization in Michigan.

Voters will decide whether recreational marijuana should be legal for adults 21 and over to use Nov. 6. The proposed law would prohibit public use of marijuana, and would require the state to set up a licensing system to launch marijuana businesses.

Last week a group of prosecutors, law enforcement and health officials held six press conferences around the state, announcing their opposition to the recreational marijuana ballot proposal. A number of chamber of commerce organizations across the state have voiced their opposition as well.

Steves said his experiences traveling in Europe have changed his attitude towards marijuana, where fewer people are jailed for marijuana crimes. Steves said he's not pro-marijuana, but pro-civil liberties.

"We address problems as a legal issue where it can be a health and education challenge," Steves said of the U.S., noting that the Netherlands and Portugal initiated their marijuana legalization program to reduce hard drug use. "People don't need lawyers and cops, they need nurses and counselors."

He was the spokesman in his home state of Washington for the pro-recreational marijuana campaign, which passed in 2012. Since then, he's actively campaigned across the country for marijuana reforms.

"People who want to smoke pot do, so if we legalize, we're not going to have more people smoking pot," Steves said.

Steves said he's an occasional user, but some of the thrill to marijuana has gone now that it's legal and accepted.

"It was a declaration of freedom for Americans, and now I don't even go to HempFest anymore," Steves said.

Steves will appear at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 2 at the Peter Martin Wege Theatre at 341 Ellsworth Ave. SW in Grand Rapids, and at 8:30 p.m. Oct. 3 at the Rackham Auditorium at 915 E. Washington St. in Ann Arbor.

Both events are free. At each event he'll be delivering a talk, and then will be taking questions afterwards.

-- Amy Biolchini is the marijuana beat reporter for MLive. Contact her with questions, tips or comments at abiolch1@mlive.com. Read more from MLive on this issue.