Colorado’s House last week passed a bill 63-0 allowing medical marijuana for the treatment of autism spectrum disorders. The Senate is expected to pass it as well, and Gov. Jared Polis has pledged to sign it.  

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper vetoed a similar bill last year – as well as another bill allowing publicly traded corporations to invest in marijuana businesses.  At the time, Hickenlooper said that if the autism bill was signed into law, “we end up, without question, in some way encouraging more young people to look at this as an antidote for their problems.”  

Hickenlooper is now touring the country as he considers a presidential bid, touting Colorado’s cannabis industry.  He noted at an event hosted by The Brookings Institution that he was “famously against” legalization, especially because of the possibility that more teenagers might increase their consumption, but that now “we’re seeing evidence that the new system [of marijuana legalization] is intrinsically better” than prohibition.  “We haven’t seen a spoke in teenage consumption… our worst fears have not happened,” he said.   

Hmm. 

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