A new study estimates that at least 5.9 million American children were living with a parent who used marijuana on most days in 2024, as cannabis use among parents has risen sharply over the past decade.
Researchers from the University of California, San Diego analyzed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, covering nearly 482,000 people ages 12 and older, tracking changes in parental cannabis use between 2012 and 2024. The findings were published in the journal Addictive Behaviors.
By 2024, 8% of parents reported using cannabis on most days, 5.2% used it daily, and 6.7% met the criteria for cannabis use disorder. Daily cannabis use among parents was about four times as common as daily alcohol use, according to the study.
The increase in use occurred across nearly all demographic groups, but researchers found some of the largest jumps among younger and unmarried parents, those in lower-income households, and those without a four-year college degree.
Doctors Raise Concerns About Normalization and Safety
Dr. Jarid Pachter, a family medicine and addiction medicine specialist at Stony Brook Medicine in New York who was not involved in the study, said growing social acceptance of marijuana may be obscuring its risks.
“Marijuana has become so socially acceptable that people are starting to overlook the risks,” Pachter said. “Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s harmless.”
Pachter said he is concerned about the example set for children when marijuana use becomes a routine part of life at home.
“If marijuana use is a regular part of life at home, children may start to see it as something that’s normal and relatively harmless,” he said, adding that children whose parents use marijuana are more likely to use it themselves later on. “That doesn’t necessarily mean the parent’s marijuana use is causing the child to use, but there’s clearly an association.”
THC, the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana, is known to affect attention, memory, coordination and reaction time, Pachter said.
“When you have young children, you need to be alert and able to respond to their needs,” he said. “I’m not suggesting that someone who uses marijuana can’t be a good parent. My concern is about being impaired when you’re responsible for a child’s safety.”
He also compared the normalization of daily cannabis use to attitudes toward alcohol. “We wouldn’t automatically consider daily alcohol use harmless, and we shouldn’t look at marijuana that way, either,” he said.
Accidental Exposure a Growing Worry
Pachter pointed to accidental ingestion as another risk, particularly from edibles such as marijuana gummies or chocolate that can resemble ordinary candy to young children.
“We’ve seen significant increases in emergency room visits involving children who accidentally consume marijuana,” he said. “Some develop severe sedation, confusion and difficulty walking. In more serious cases, children can have breathing problems and require hospitalization.”
He noted that more frequent marijuana use raises the risk of developing cannabis use disorder, and that frequent use of high-potency products has been linked to a greater risk of certain psychiatric problems in susceptible individuals.
Secondhand smoke exposure is another concern, Pachter said. “Marijuana smoke contains many of the same harmful chemicals found in tobacco smoke,” he said. “We know children can be exposed to THC through secondhand smoke, although we’re still learning about the long-term health effects.”
For parents who use marijuana daily, Pachter suggested asking whether they could go without it and whether use is affecting work, relationships or responsibilities. “And if you’re a parent, you need to consider whether your marijuana use is affecting your ability to care for your children,” he said.
Study Limitations
The researchers did not assess parenting quality or children’s health outcomes, and the study does not establish that parental cannabis use causes harm to children. The data also relied on self-reported substance use, which can be subject to recall or reporting bias.
The study’s authors called for further research into whether the frequency of parental cannabis use, cannabis use disorder, household exposure and storage practices are linked to children’s health or developmental outcomes.
The research was supported by funding from the California Department of Cannabis Control, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
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