Marijuana use rises sharply among one group of Americans, new study finds

A growing number of American parents are using cannabis, prompting questions about potential child exposure and safety, according to a new study.

increased substantially among parents between 2012 and 2024, with researchers estimating that at least 5.9 million U.S. children were living with a parent who used marijuana on most days in 2024.

By 2024, 8% of parents used cannabis on most days, 5.2% used it daily and 6.7% met the criteria for cannabis use disorder (CUD).

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Daily cannabis use among parents was about four times as common as daily , the study found.

While increases occurred across nearly all demographic groups, some of the largest were seen among younger and unmarried parents, those in lower-income households and those without a four-year college degree.

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego, analyzed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), involving nearly 482,000 U.S. individuals ages 12 and older.

The findings were published in the journal Addictive Behaviors.

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"Marijuana has become so socially acceptable that people are starting to overlook the risks," Dr. Jarid Pachter, who specializes in family medicine and at Stony Brook Medicine in New York, told Fox News Digital.

"Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's harmless," added Pachter, who was not involved in the study.

The physician also expressed concern about the example parents are setting for their children.

"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, pointing to studies that show children whose parents use marijuana are more likely to use it themselves as they get older.

"That doesn't necessarily mean the parent's marijuana use is causing the child to use, but there's clearly an association."

The doctor also cautioned that THC, the main in the marijuana plant, is known to affect attention, memory, coordination and reaction time.

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"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."

"I also think we need to be careful about normalizing daily marijuana use," he went on. "We wouldn't automatically consider daily alcohol use harmless, and we shouldn't look at marijuana that way, either."

Pachter emphasized that accidental ingestion is another concern, especially with edibles like marijuana gummies or chocolate, which can look like regular candy to a young child.

"We've seen significant increases in emergency room visits involving children who acci