Families, Youth & Students

Marijuana - Data

(2010 - number of parents and children who use marijuana) A projection of the number of parents who use cannabis can be computed by comparing U.S. Census estimates with data from the Monitoring the Future study.

The U.S. Census estimates that families in households with minor children - married and single parent male or female - comprised roughly 62 million persons in 2010. An average of the percentage use figures in the 2010 Monitoring the Future study indicate that around 15% of those within the childbearing years of age 20-35 consume cannabis monthly, with about 5% being daily users. Daily use likely equates to medical use. Simple multiplication of these two percentages times the estimated 62 million persons heading family households places the number of marijuana using parents in the United States as high as 9.5 million and patient parents near 3 million.

The U.S. Census also estimates the number of children ages 12-17 at 24.8 million. Monitoring the Future projects the percentage of adolescents who currently use cannabis at 13.8%. The result of multiplying the two figures is roughly 3.4 million young people who use cannabis at least monthly.

Families - Data

(2010 - number of children in U.S.) "According to the 2010 census, there were 74.2 million children in the United States, 1.9 million more than in 2000. This number is projected to increase to 87.8 million in 2030. There were approximately equal numbers of children in three age groups: 0–5 (25.5 million), 6–11 (24.3 million), and 12–17 (24.8 million) years of age in 2009 (the latest data year available by age at time of publication).

"Since the mid-1960s, children have been decreasing as a proportion of the total U.S. population. In 2010, children made up 24 percent of the population, down from a peak of 36 percent at the end of the “baby boom” (1964). Children’s share of the population is projected to remain fairly stable through 2050, when they are projected to make up 23 percent of the population."

(2010 - ethnic diversity of U.S. children) "The racial and ethnic diversity of America’s children has grown dramatically in the last three decades and will continue to grow. In 2023, fewer than half of all children are projected to be White, non-Hispanic. By 2050, 39 percent of U.S. children are projected to be Hispanic (up from 23 percent in 2010), and 38 percent are projected to be White, non-Hispanic (down from 54 percent in 2010)."

(2010 ) "In 2010, 66 percent of children ages 0–17 lived with two married parents, down from 67 percent in 2009 and 77 percent in 1980. In 2010, 3 percent of children lived with their own unmarried, cohabiting parents, 23 percent lived with only their mothers, 3 percent lived with only their fathers, and 4 percent lived with neither of their parents."

(2010 - teens with family ties) "Compared to teens in families with strong Family Ties, teens in families with weak Family Ties are:

"• Four times likelier to have tried tobacco;

"• Four times likelier to have tried marijuana; and

"• Almost three times likelier to have tried alcohol."

(2009 - children living in poverty in the U.S.) "In 2009, 21 percent of all children ages 0–17 (15.5 million) lived in poverty. This is up from the low of 16 percent in 2000 and 2001. The poverty rate for all children increased from 18 percent in 2007 to 19 percent in 2008 to 21 percent in 2009. This trend is consistent with expectations related to the recent economic downturn."

(2008 - adolescents - family dinners) "As frequency of family dinners increases, reported drinking, smoking and drug use decreases. Compared to teens who have five to seven family dinners per week, those who have fewer than three family dinners per week are more than twice as likely to have used tobacco or marijuana, and one and a half times likelier to have used alcohol."

(2008 - race & prison - incarcerated parents) "The scale of the effects of parental incarceration on children can be revealed simply by statistics showing the number of children with a parent in prison or jail. Among white children in 1980, only 0.4 of 1 percent had an incarcerated parent; by 2008 this figure had increased to 1.75 percent. Rates of parental incarceration are roughly double among Latino children, with 3.5 percent of children having a parent locked up by 2008. Among African American children, 1.2 million, or about 11 percent, had a parent incarcerated by 2008."

(2007 - prisons & jails - parents in prison) "An estimated 809,800 prisoners of the 1,518,535 held in the nation's prisons at midyear 2007 were parents of minor children, or children under age 18. Parents held in the nation's prisons -- 52% of state inmates and 63% of federal inmates -- reported having an estimated 1,706,600 minor children, accounting for 2.3% of the U.S. resident population under age 18."

(2004 - prisons & jails - parents in prison) "Thirty-seven percent of parents held in state prison reported living with at least one of their children in the month before arrest, 44% reported just prior to incarceration, and 48% reported at either time (table 7). Mothers were more likely than fathers to report living with at least one child. More than half of mothers held in state prison reported living with at least one of their children in the month before arrest, compared to 36% of fathers. More than 6 in 10 mothers reported living with their children just prior to incarceration or at either time, compared to less than half of fathers.

"Parents held in federal prison were more likely than those held in state prison to report living with a child in the month before arrest, just prior to incarceration, or at either time (appendix table 7). Mothers in federal prison were more likely than fathers to report living with a child."

(2004 - prisons & drug offenders - federal & state - parents in prison) "Among male state prisoners, violent (47%) and property (48%) offenders were less likely to report having children than public-order (60%) and drug (59%) offenders (table 6). For women held in state prison, violent (57%) offenders were less likely than drug (63%), property (65%), and public-order (65%) offenders to be a mother.

"The prevalence of being a parent differed by gender and offense for inmates held in state and federal prisons. For state inmates, female (65%) property offenders were more likely to be a parent than male (48%) property offenders. In federal prison, male (69%) drug offenders were more likely than female (55%) drug offenders to report having children.

"Among men held in federal prison, drug offenders (69%) were more likely than property (54%) and violent (50%) offenders to report having children (appendix table 5). Public-order offenders (62%) were also more likely than violent offenders to report having children. For women in federal prison, the likelihood of being a mother did not differ by offense."

(2004 - prisons & drug offenders - federal & state - parents in prison) "Mothers in state prison (58%) were more likely than fathers (49%) to report having a family member who had also been incarcerated (table 11). Parents in state prison most commonly reported a brother (34%), followed by a father (19%). Among mothers in state prison, 13% reported a sister and 8% reported a spouse. Six percent of fathers reported having a sister who had also been incarcerated; 2%, a spouse.

"While growing up, 40% of parents in state prison reported living in a household that received public assistance, 14% reported living in a foster home, agency, or institution at some time during their youth, and 43% reported living with both parents most of the time (appendix table 11). Mothers (17%) held in state prison were more likely than fathers (14%) to report living in a foster home, agency, or institution at some time during their youth. Parents in federal prison reported lower percentages of growing up in a household that received public assistance (31%) or living in a foster home, agency, or institution (7%). These characteristics varied little by gender for parents held in federal prison.

"More than a third (34%) of parents in state prison reported that during their youth, their parents or guardians had abused alcohol or drugs. Mothers in state prison (43%) were more likely than fathers (33%) to have had this experience. Fewer parents (27%) in federal prison reported having a parent or a guardian who had abused alcohol or drugs."

Families - Law & Policy

(families - law & policy - lifetime public assistance ban for a drug conviction) "Despite evidence of the disproportionate impact that the War on Drugs has exerted on women, PRWORA [Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996] established a lifetime ban on cash assistance and food stamps for individuals with felony drug convictions.¹¹⁵ Currently, there is no good cause or hardship exemption for parents who resume caretaking responsibilities for their children upon reentry. ... Legislators have justified denying public benefits to drug offenders as a measure of “user accountability,”¹¹⁸ ignoring the original intent of the War on Drugs: treatment.¹¹⁹ ... Wholly absent from congressional debate was talk of including violent or other crimes as disqualifying offenses.¹²³ Consequently, while this provision disqualifies from public assistance an individual with a conviction for possession or sale of a small quantity of drugs, the eligibility of an individual convicted of murder remains intact.¹²⁴ While the rationale for section 115 of PRWORA is tenuous at best,¹²⁵ the Seventh Circuit recently held that, because it is “rationally related to legitimate government interests in deterring drug use and reducing welfare fraud,” the legislation is constitutional.¹²⁶"

(families - welfare reform laws) "Contemporary welfare reform—while purportedly aiming to assist “needy” families to ensure that “children may be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives”¹⁰³—has shifted away from providing childcare subsidies¹⁰⁴ toward encouraging recipients to join the paid workforce.¹⁰⁵ The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA)¹⁰⁶ replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a federal block grant program that imposes on welfare recipients time limits and mandatory work requirements.¹⁰⁷"

(families - denial of educational benefits) "The Higher Education Act of 1965,¹ as amended, provides for the suspension of certain federal higher education benefits to students who have been convicted for the possession or sale of a controlled substance under federal or state law.² The controlled substance offense may be either a felony or a misdemeanor. Federal higher education benefits that are denied to such individuals include student loans, Pell Grants, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, and the Federal Work-Study program.³

"The Higher Education Act [HEA] provision outlines different periods for which such drug offenders are ineligible to receive certain federal higher education benefits, depending upon the type and number of controlled substance convictions. The period of ineligibility begins on the date of conviction and ends after a specified interval."

(families - drug testing of assistance recipients) "Given the high cost of treatment programs and the waiting lists for services in many areas, mandatory drug testing of all applicants or recipients of TANF [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families] benefits is a poor use of resources. In a time of tight state budgets, it is perverse to spend limited funds in pursuit of the small number of substance abusers who are not identified through screening processes, rather than on providing actual services. Despite the persistence of proposals to impose drug testing at the state and federal levels, these proposals have consistently been rejected because the data do not support the money-saving claims."

"Moreover, if identified drug users are sanctioned and not provided with treatment services and basic cash assistance, these parents are less able to adequately care for their children. Thus, what might appear to be savings in TANF will actually result in increased costs in child welfare and decreased overall child wellbeing."

(denial of student aid) "Denial of a college education is now an additional sanction for drug offenders as the result of two federal statutes: a 1998 law that suspends or forever terminates a drug offender’s eligibility for federal college loans and grants, and (as we shall discuss below) a 1994 law making all inmates ineligible for the Pell Grants that formerly provided the means to obtain a college degree in prison.

"The 1998 Drug Free Student Loans Act denies federal grants, federally subsidized loans, and work-study funds to college students who have been convicted of any drug offense– felony or misdemeanor, sale or possession, heroin or marijuana (but not rape, robbery, or murder)."

(families - public housing 'one strike' law) Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) in the US operate under a "One Strike" policy regarding drug use that is so over-reaching that even drug use by a guest can be grounds for eviction. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, "The 1998 amendments of the 1996 Extension Act provisions on ineligibility of illegal drug users and alcohol abusers confirm that a PHA or owner may deny admission or terminate assistance for the whole household that includes a person involved in the proscribed activity. With respect to a PHA or owner's discretion to consider rehabilitation for a household member with the offending substance abuse problem, the rule would permit a PHA or owner to hold the whole household responsible for that member's successful rehabilitation as a condition for continued occupancy and avoidance of eviction."

(families - public housing drug eviction laws) "After the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 declared that 'drug dealers are increasingly imposing a reign of terror on public and other federally assisted low-income housing tenants,'¹⁵² the Housing Opportunity Program Extension Act of 1996 mandated that public housing authorities (PHAs) implement policies to deny public housing to individuals engaged in proscribed criminal behavior.¹⁵³ The legislation authorized PHAs, including Section 8 housing providers, to perform criminal background checks on adult applicants and to terminate the leases of public housing tenants and their families for the criminal behavior of a household member, guest, or “other person under the tenant’s control.”¹⁵⁴

"Congress also provided PHAs greater latitude to evict tenants by expanding the definition of 'criminal activity' to include 'any drug-related activity.'¹⁵⁵"

(families - Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) "The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program was reauthorized under the Deficit Reduction Act in February 2006. The TANF block grant is funded at $16.6 billion each year and is currently authorized under a continuing resolution. The program includes specific definitions of work, work verification requirements, and penalties if states do not meet the requirements."

Families - Research

(risk factors for substance use among youth) "The risk factors were stronger predictors of substance use outcomes compared to the protective factors, regardless of grade level or substance use type. In particular, the individual and peer risk factors were strongly related to lifetime and recent use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. Among the protective factors, the strongest associations with substance use were found in the community domain. Several age-related differences in the associations were also found, suggesting that family and community factors were more salient among younger grades whereas peer and school factors were stronger among older adolescents."

(children in marijuana growing homes) "Despite our findings that 30% of the children in our study tested positive for drugs of abuse in their hair, we found that the vast majority were in good health at the time of examination, which was within 1 to 2 weeks from their removal from their homes [in which marijuana was grown]. The rates of the mostly minor health issues observed were well within the range expected in Canada and other developed countries."

(parenting in marijuana production) "Among our cohort of children presented here [in this study], however, the majority of the parents were not known to be using illicit substances themselves and, on the basis of our clinical assessments, appear to be able to parent their children adequately. It is not likely that the production of drugs, particularly marijuana, hinders effective parenting much more than actual drug use, yet the differences in the ways these cases are handled suggest that police and child protection agencies perceive the former to be of greater concern with respect to child safety than the latter."

(families and adolescent alcohol use) "In terms of alcohol, some (19, 20) but not other (21) studies have linked parental alcohol and substance use to adolescent initiation of alcohol use. Several studies (14, 22) have identified disruption of family structure and social networks that use alcohol as a risk factor for initiation of alcohol use. Although there are few comparisons of the role of familial and social network determinants in the initiation of licit drug use, a cross-sectional study of 2,017 high school students found that social network characteristics were more important than familial characteristics in explaining cigarette and alcohol use (16).

"Thus, characteristics of one’s family during childhood and adolescence (including poor relationships between parents and children, parental educational attainment, and possibly parental substance use) appear to be the primary social factors associated with smoking and alcohol initiation. However, characteristics of families may be less important in specific groups where other social circumstances, including social network use of substances or recent migration, may be more important."

(families and adolescent tobacco use) "Other studies that have assessed initiation of multiple substances confirm the observation that adverse childhood family conditions are associated with a greater likelihood of initiation of cigarette use (13, 14). Conversely, positive parental-adolescent relationships have been associated with a lower risk of cigarette use (15), although this finding is not universal across studies (16). Smoking behavior of social network members and protobacco media influences also have been shown to be important determinants of age at smoking initiation (17)."

Families - Tables

(families - denial of federal benefits for drug offenses) "Selected provisions of federal law explicitly prohibit specific categories of drug offenders from receiving certain federal benefits for specified periods.⁴"

⁴ "In addition to federal provisions explicitly denying federal benefits for drug offenders, other federal and state provisions may restrict convicted drug offenders from accessing certain types of occupational opportunities, participating in jury service, obtaining drivers’ licenses, or exercising voting rights."